One Week
by TheAnimeTrain
Summary: Six stories played throughout the week after the last B-Rank War match. (Side story to Sick Snow)
1. A Hawk's Sound

**A Hawk's Sound**

* * *

Takaoto Mei was a kind, beautiful, and almost motherly person. She was kind to all. She had beauty that could outclass any model. She was motherly to her squad.

"If I may. Why am _I_ being the one sent out on this assignment? My team's next match is coming up. I would like to be there if any of me need to ask me something."

That was not the only reason. There was also the fact that she was already committed to only ever using her Trigger for something major like invasions or to deal with Taiyōko Kushikage.

She had to generally be there for her squad, as an Operater.

She _is_ the Ultimate Operator and A-Rank Border combatant with a powerful Trigger after all. She had power, speed and the aura of a strong person. Even when in her real body she is able to rival - and even overpower at times - someone like the muscleman Kizaki Reiji from the Tamakoma Branch or match Jin Yuuichi's Side Effect with her own and get the upper hand on him.

Any limitations she made for herself were most likely necessary.

The girl known as Takaoto Mei was both terrifying and majestic all at once.

"If it's worth anything, we plan on having Kako Swuad help you out on this assignment."

Now here she was, standing in the large room that had Border's Commander, as well as two directors sitting in the seats there. Kako Nozomi, captain of the #6 A-Rank squad was also there, standing behind Mei.

"I apologize, but can't I just give the information needed for what will most likely happen if I don't go? That would make all of this fuss easier to deal with. Not to mention we would all get what we want in the end. Actually, won't it be easier to send Yuuichi in rather than me?"

"Look, Mei." Director Shinoda Masafumi was the one to speak. He was more capable at handling the girl than the other two. "This is more than simply finishing the mission. We're only sending you because if we send other ones like Arashiyama Squad or Miwa Squad something much more difficult may come up."

"We would send the agents from the Yagura Branch, but that lot is far too rowdy to handle something like this." This time it was Director Kinuta Motokichi that spoke. "Tsukiko would end up making his own 'playground' again and not care about what would be inside it. That unruly woman would be worse and destroy everything that she saw. Even the younger brother wouldn't hold back! Akasora doesn't control them, so it wouldn't be good to send them in."

Mei stood there, slowly breathing.

Calculations ranging from hundreds upon hundreds of different scenarios of how that would end had already been made beforehand. Each and every one ended with destruction and mad citizens.

That was when something else come to her mind.

"If I may, once again. Could it be possible for me to bring one other person along with me. As well as leave Kako Squad ready for other things. No offense of course."

Mei looked over her shoulder to see Kako shrug her shoulders.

"None taken."

The two women were great friends, so Kako already knew that there really was no malice behind Mei's words.

Mei herself turned back to the higher ups of Border and continued speaking.

"He will be a great asset in completing this mission. What's more is that he will not destroy anything he isn't suppose to. He will also follow any order given to him by those higher than him."

"And who might this person be exactly?"

"I apologize again, sir. I can't say who exactly this person is. I can assure you that it most certainly _not_ who you are thinking of."

Command of Border Kido and Ultimate Operator Mei starred at each other.

Commander Kido narrowed his eyes at the young woman, trying to figure out how to get her to talk.

That had absolutely no effect on her, though. Takaoto Mei was much too hardheaded and stubborn on certain matters. Even now, she was calculating hundreds upon hundreds of different ends to their current conversation.

This was not the first time that Mei had said something vague like this. It also was not the first time she had been on the receiving end of one of Commander Kido's hard and harsh stares. And just like those times before, she would not back down in the slightest.

"...Very well. You may bring this person along. Let it be known that the only reason I am allowing this is because of how useful you are."

"Thank you, sir."

* * *

"Wow~ It's always amazing to see that side of you."

"It's nothing much. I just think this guy will be very helpful on this assignment. Like I said, I want to get back to my squad as soon as I can. There are a lot of things that will happen in the next match, so I want them to be ready."

Takaoto Mei and Kako Nozomi were currently making their way to one of the multiple Border branch bases that were placed outside of Mikado City's Forbidden Zone made by Border.

No one had bothered to ask why they were walking together since it was not such a rare sight. The two women were close friends, so it was not anything new for them to be seen together. They were both women who would not really take anything from anybody. The difference between them being that while Kako was more laid-back about things like that, Mei would simple show them exactly why they should not mess with her.

Kako always enjoyed seeing that from Mei.

Kako had looked over to her friend to see a somewhat glazed look in Mei's eyes.

 _Her Side Effect is truly amazing. To be able to do so much in a matter of seconds... It's no wonder why she can count for a whole A-Rank squad like it's nothing._

Side Effect. An ability manifested in certain individuals with high Trion levels. This ability usually takes form as enhanced physical abilities or extrasensory abilities. Border organizes Side Effects into four types: S - Extrasensory Perception, A - Superhuman Ability, B - Special Constitution, C - Enhanced Senses.

There were people who very useful and strong Side Effects. Some of these people were Jin Yūichi with the ability to see a little of the future of those before him, Kuga Yūma's ability to see through the lies of others and Murakami Kou's ability to enhance stabilization and consolidation of memory during sleep. Mei's was something different though. It was a Side Effect that rivaled Jin's ability to see into the future.

Her mind was far beyond any supercomputer ever made.

She was able to take in, process, reprocess and remember any given information multiple times in just a few seconds. What's more was that she was able to process over a hundred different subjects at once while still staying focused on what was in front of her. Although the more she processed the longer it took.

Most would call her a perfect woman.

Although...

"Oh yeah. This means you can see your boyfriend while we're at it."

She did have a major weakness.

"Wh-what!? I m-m- _mean_ of course I w-w-would-d! H-he's at the b-branch of-f-f-fice! He's the f- _face_ of it! THATDOESN'TMATTERTHOUGH! THATISNOTTHEREASONWEAREGOING! _PLEASESTAYFOCUSED_!"

Kako made sure to take at least five large steps away from Mei before she spoke. She also made sure to have a firm grip on her Trigger, that she was now acutely aware of.

It was a good thing she did so too as Mei quickly went red and started slamming her head into the nearest object. Which happened to be a tree.

Kako truly felt sorry for the tree as Mei's hard head repeatedly struck it with the force of a sledgehammer.

It looked like she was banging her head to an overly loud metal song, her head even creating afterimages. The poor tree was feeling all of this impact as it started to break apart.

"Fuji-san, I was just saying something you can't avoid. There is no need to kill Mikado City's flora. Please stop."

It took around ten minutes for Mei to stop her attack on the poor tree and calm down to the point of being normal again.

She looked over at the tree and started apologizing to it while stroking its broken bark.

As if saying, "It's alright. I forgive you, my dear child." a leaf silently fell on top of Mei's head.

Kako shook her head and gave a melodious laugh. It was alway entertaining to see her friend like this.

"Shall we get going? We aren't too far from the branch office."

"Right. Let's go."

* * *

A cup of tea was placed in front of both Mei and Kako.

"Thank you."

"How kind of you."

The two women were sitting rather comfortably on one of the sofas in Border's Yagura Branch Office. In front of them was an older man wearing a tracksuit and a young man with a rather sickly appearance. To their right sat another man, this one looking more like a charming man on a popular TV show. He sat there with a happy smile and a hotdog in his hand.

"..."

Then there was man that was the reason the two women were there in the first place. This man stood behind the young man with a hotdog. This man was much different than the other three there. He stood at an 6 foot 7 inches with short, grassy-like gray hair and an intimidating look. His choice in clothes was also odd with a mix of different clothing ranging from a sleeveless Chinese shirt to the American jacket on. It may have looked odd to others, but it seemed to also fit the man's appearance better than if someone else wore it.

He gave off a much different feeling than the others. The man in the tracksuit held a dignified and older feeling than the young man who looked sickly had a feeling like he was hiding something, and the man with the hotdog in his hand had a feeling like he was a kid on a man's body. This large man with gray hair didn't give off any sort of feeling though. You wouldn't be able to tell anything about him just from appearance alone.

That would be understandable though. After all, he is a Trion Soldier.

"So, what's up? Not that we aren't happy to see you two here, but you both rarely come by. Something the matter?" The man in the tracksuit spoke with a casual tone as he held a can to his mouth.

"Actually, we are here to talk to Pyrínas."

"..."

"Wow~ Aren't you the lady's man~"

"..."

The large man standing up said nothing. He wasn't being rude or arrogant, he was just waiting to officially be spoken to by the A-Ranks.

"Well, go ahead and ask him then. He's not officially affiliated with Border, so I can't say anything for him."

"Not that you would care in the first place."

Mei shared a knowing look with her sickly-looking boyfriend.

The man in the tracksuit had been Yuki's teacher at school before, as well as being a mentor for the both of them. They knew what he was like without giving much thought about what he would say.

Kako on the other hand seemed to be sizing up the other two in the room. She had recognized them almost immediately, but said nothing on the matter. She knew that if they had been let into the Yagura Branch - rather, Border as a whole - then there was no reason to be wary with them.

Besides, they wouldn't be able to take on the four of them at once.

Kako turned her attention back to the girl sitting calmly next to her.

"Pyrínas, I would like to ask for your help on an assignment that was just given to me."

"...What is this assignment? ...If you don't mind me asking."

"Not at all. The assignment is a simple one. Apparently, people have reported seeing a rather large man with gray hair walking around. The thing is that he always seems to appear near Gates when they open up. People have been telling us for that reason. They think he's involved with Neighbors. That being said..."

"... They believe it might be another 'Pyrínas', if not myself."

"Right. Like I said, it's simple though. I just need to find this person and figure out what's going on. And... If I doesn't happen that he is involved with the Neighbors, I just take him out."

Futoyuki grinned as he finished up his hotdog. He looked over at Mei and couldn't help thinking, 'Of course it seems easy for someone who no one can relate too.'

"...So you're asking for my help to figure out if this is another 'Pyrínas' that may have been left behind?"

"Hold up!"

Everyone turned to Futoyuki.

"It can't possibly be another Pyrínas. The original was taken away after we Wanderers came along. The original is like a power source for any of his 'clones'. #7 here was a rare case that was able to escape from the original's grasps, but we were able to figure out that much from the tech we had. If another one _happened_ to also get their own life, we would have known right away. And the others would have even made their way back here just to retrieve him."

Not even a month ago, a group of Neighbors had conducted an experiment on Earth. This experiment was to test and see if Earth - more accurately Border - would be good allies to have. They would gladly team with with Border and be at the ready for any sort of issue involving Neighbors.

During this test an autonomous Trion Soldier had rebelled and gone against the ones conducting the experiment. This resulted in his loss, as well as the ones known as Wanderers taking their leave.

This Trion Soldier was known as Pyrínas.

Pyrínas had multiple copies of himself, all running around to so his bidding during the time.

Something had happened to the clone known as "Pyrínas #7" though. That something being he was able to grow his own personality, separating from the original. This meant he was free to make his own choices. And he chose to stay on Earth.

Pyrínas slowly closed his eyes, showing that he was thinking about it.

Akasora and Yuki just casually spoke to Kako. They didn't seem bothered in the slightest by the request or what the assignment was. That was reasonable since they both knew that Mei herself was more than enough for the job.

After a few seconds, Pyrínas opened his eyes and gave a slight nod.

"...Alright. ...Is there a time I should meet up with you? ...Also, who else will be involved on this assignment? ...If you don't mind me asking."

"Not at all. Kako Squad was also assigned to this assignment, but I said it would he fine if it was just you and me. The less people the more likely we won't be found out. And as for when... I'll stop by tomorrow and get you. Does that sound fine?"

"...Yes."

Mei gave a nod as she stood up.

"Well then, I'll be going."

"Aw~ You don't want to spend some time with your boyfriend? I promise I won't make fun of you two~"

Only three people in the room didn't freeze at this. One was the idiot who said these deadly words. The tall man standing was another. The last one was the poor girl who quickly went red from head to toe.

Everyone else quickly got ready to handle something akin to an elephant rampaging through the building.

Akasora took immediate action by turning to the Trion Soldier in the room.

"Pyrínas! Get ready to hold her down! Yuki! Trigger! Kako! Get ready to call for backup! Futoyuki! Get the hell outta here before you make things worse!"

Akasora continued to both dodge forehead-centric attacks from Mei while also moving any and all furniture out of the way of being destroyed. His orders didn't fall on deaf ears either, Kako and Yuki quickly went into action.

Futoyuki tilted his head in confusion.

That was a mistake on his part.

 **BAM!**

In a single hit, the idiot known as Futoyuki was on the floor, clearly knocked out.

Pyrínas was more quick on what to do. He managed to dodge a headbutt and actually hold on to Mei for a good five seconds before getting a solid punch to the side of the head. It didn't hurt since it was a regular attack from Mei's real body, but he did accidentally losen his grip.

That moment was all Mei needed to break free and go back on her rampage.

 _...She continues to have me wonder whether she really is human or not..._

* * *

The two Border women had left the Yagura Branch and were now headed to their respective homes.

Before that though...

A female agent talking to Mei while she tried her best to not lose eye contact with her. She was about two years younger in age than Mei.

"- Thank you very much for helping out before. I was able to win more solo matches because of your help. And you were right. I'm better at using Scorpion than Kōgetsu."

"It's fine. Helping others is something that all people, I'm some shape or form, tend to do. I reallyd didn't do much. You are the one who is working hard to improve after all."

"O-of course." The female agent nodded her head. Her small cheeks and face were red with tension and nervousness.

"Well then, we will be going. Keep up the good work."

The female agent gave a quick bow as Mei and Kako took their leave.

"Wasn't that young lady a little tense and nervous?" Kako spoke as they were walking along the road.

"She was probably just happy that she is able to work more efficiently and move up faster due to having some more guidance."

"Or it could be that she was standing in front if the great Takaoto Mei-senpai. She could aspiring to be like you."

"Why would she want to do that?"

Mei asked Kako, who then responded with an impish laugh.

"Don't you know? You are really popular with the younger ones. Your feats as the Ultimate Operator and the only Operator to fight has gone around HQ like wildfire for the girls. Some of the Operators are trying to keep up with you while the combatants wish to be at your level. In addition, you're also able to work so diligently. Moreover, you're a beautiful person. Because of those reasons, you'll probably grow even more popular."

"Even I want to share your good luck," Kako implied with her laugh.

"Please stop, Kako."

Mei retorted with a wry smile.

"But you certainly have changed since back then. When I first met you... Well, that was rather entertaining by itself. You were running around to help anyone and everyone you could find. Now it seems that you do it more so for that fun squad of yours. As well as~-"

"Alright. I get it." Mei got the smallest of blushes on her cheeks. Not enough to worry about. "It was all thanks to the assistance that I was given. That includes you too, Kako. Thank you."

"If you really want to thank me then treat me some time."

In response to Kako's quip, Mei gave a small laugh.

Kako could only smile when she this from Mei.

Kako had been the first person to stop Mei from running around and randomly helping others out. She had grabbed the girl by the shoulder, sat her down for a snack and told her to take things easy. She had been a great senpai for Mei to learn from throughout the years they had known each other.

Kako was also the only one who knew that not all of the times Mei blushed were bad. Like now, Mei had a small blush, but it was in a gentle way that showed she was very happy. Even Yuki hadn't seen this kind of thing from his former Operator.

 _Maybe I'm just use to handling these kinds of people by now._

Kako gave a small laugh herself as they rounded a corner.

From the corner of her eye she could see something that interested her. So she extended an invitation to Mei.

"Do you want to get some tea?"

Mei looked over to what Kako had been looking at and lightly shook her head.

"Sorry, but I'll pass. I would like to get home and think about what I will do concerning the assignment given to me. Maybe some other time."

"I get it," Kako said, but there was a hint of worry on her face. It looked like she was telling Mei not to worry too much about it.

Mei pretended not to notice Kako's expression.

She waved her hands with a "Goodbye".

She then began to walk alone along the bustling street.

Even though it was early in the afternoon, the streets were thriving and crowded with people.

It was a rather nice scene for someone like Mei, who had been so preoccupied with the recent Galpoula attack and the B-Rank war. Everything looked so normal and had its own beauty to it that only she seemed to see.

"Huh? Mei-san?"

Suddenly, she heard a voice from behind. It was a voice that she knew well.

"You three. Hello."

Turning around, Mei saw the figures of three of her squad members. Takeshi, Toby and Hoshi were in casual clothes and were walking in her direction.

"What are you three doing over here? You don't live in this directions. And Yagura Branch is more in that direction."

"Toby said he wanted to talk more about what we're going to do concerning our next match. The thing is that he wanted to go to some sweats shop to do it. We had gone to find Suzume-senpai, but she seemed to be busy with Satori-senpai."

Mei nodded her head, making a mental note to question the two snipers about it later on.

"How are you, Fu- Ah... Mei-nee?" said Hoshi.

"I am fine. I'm headed home from talking with Kako."

"I've heard that you have an assignment with Kako Squad tomorrow."

"That has changed. I'm now working with Pyrínas. That being said, I won't be able to do much for you tomorrow." Mei gave a small bow. "Sorry."

"Ah. It's fine. There's no need to worry about it that much." Hoshi nodded.

"Mei-san, we should be the ones apologizing for not doing much for _you_." Takeshi fixed his scarf and slightly moved his eyes. "You work much more than any of us and we don't really do much for you."

Mei could see that both Toby and Hoshi thought this as well since they turned their gazes away from her. She quickly got a motherly smile on her face and patted their heads.

"It's fine. The four of you are still learning, so that means that I need to make sure you all learn properly. As the oldest, I must make sure that you are going in the right direction, meaning that I have to work much, much harder than any of you."

Takeshi fixed his scarf once again, this time making sure to hide the small blush that was now on his cheeks.

Toby gave a large grin from next to the smiling Hoshi.

Kotowari Squad, as well as its former captain, all had family problems in some shape or form. Mei was the only expecting from that. Toby hated his parents with a passion, Takeshi never cared much for his family, Hoshi's parents were very difficult to get along with and one of Suzume's parents had left the family. What these three in the same year had in common was that they never really had much of a mother figure to help them out while Suzume had at least had her mother with her, so that's where Mei came in.

Mei was like a kind and caring mother to these three. She made sure they were straightened out, yet didn't bring any sort of burden on them. She always helped out when necessary and kept them in line. She had been the one to put up with them from the very beginning, never giving up on them and even leaving Yuki by himself to stay and be their squad's Operator.

They were all glad to have her with them.

It wasn't just a one-way thing either. Mei always cared for them because she genuinely cared for them. After all.

 _They're lovely._

She was unconsciously thinking that.

* * *

Mei quietly hummed to herself as she walked to the Tamakoma Branch office.

It was six in the morning and she was making her way to Border affiliated branch office with a rather large box in her hands. It was sealed tightly, making to so that nothing as simple as wind could show what was inside of it.

"Kuga should be up all night. But I guess I could just leave this at the door and wait for them to get it later on."

Only a handful knew of Tamakoma's chibi albino, but to Mei it was something that came quickly to her. She had long ago figured out that he was a Neighbor, evem going as far as to vaguely know what happened to him. Or at least about his circumstances.

She obviously didn't care in the slightest. She still related him like any other person, in her usual kind and caring way.

It didn't take much longer for her to be at the front door of the office.

Just as she reached the door, it opened.

She tilted her head a bit to look down at the chibi albino who had silently opened the door.

"Good morning, Kuga."

"Hello, Mei-san."

"I needed to drop this box off. Would you mind I out it inside? I'm just going to leave it for them."

Yuma, with his duck face, moved over to allow Mei to walk in. He followed behind after closing the door.

Yuma was rather curious about Mei. He hadn't really spoken to her before, but he had heard some rumors going around about her. Some were about how did fought during the attacks by Aftokrator and Galopoula, others being how she easily beat Reiji and Director Rindo in arm wrestling, or how she slammed a sheathed Kōgetsu on Director Shinoda's head before almost beheading him with the blade.

These were all rumors of course, but that didn't stop Yuma from wondering.

"Mei-san, are the rumors about you true?"

Mei didn't seem to mind the straightforward question. She just placed the box down and turned to Yuma with a rather neutral expression.

"That all depends on what the rumors are."

"Did you really beat Reiji-san in arm wrestling?"

"I have a three to zero win streak on him."

"Did you fight two Neighbors by yourself and win?"

"No. During the Aftokrator invasion I had fought with Yuki. During the Galopoula attack I fought with Yuki again. Although I delivered the finish blows during that fight."

There was absolutely no reason for Mei to lie, so she didn't.

Yuma nodded his head and had to admit that he really was impressed by what she could do, even when he hadn't seen her actually fight.

"Can I ask one last question?"

"Of course."

"Is there anyone who can beat you?"

"Of course. Sensei, Director Shinoda, even that-..."

Yuma tilted his head when he saw the sour look that appeared on Mei's face. He knew she was about to continue, but now he was much more interested at who this last person was.

Mei didn't want to remind herself of that person, but now that she mentioned them she couldn't help but get a bit irritated.

"That woman can also-"

"Fu-chan~!"

Mei jerked forward as a larger body slammed into hers from behind. This body wrapped its arms around here and gave her a large bear hug, which also made Mei's head get squished between two large breasts.

It didn't take a genius to figure out who this person was.

"Get off me... _**Now!**_ "

Mei tried her best to keep her voice down. There were still others asleep in the building, so she didn't want to wake them.

This was a rather hard endeavor though since...

"And why are you naked!? Kuga, turn the other way! Don't look at this horny beast!"

Doing as he was told, Yuma covered his eyes.

The person who had been squishing Mei between her breasts moved back and gave a childish pout. She crossed her arms under her breasts, give more emphasis on them, and looking at Mei like a child who just got in trouble.

"I'm not completely naked, Fu-chan! I have my panties on!"

"Those don't count as underwear! A triangle attached by two pieces of sting does _not_ count as underwear!"

"Oh yeah~? Then what do _you_ wear, Fu-chan~?"

"Like I would-"

Before Mei could say any more, Taiyōko Kushikage made a quick dash and was able to grabbed the bottom of Mei's dress. She quickly moved her hands up and lifted the dress up with a loud "Tada!".

"Why is there so much yelling at-..."

Mei quickly brought her dress down before turning to the ones who had entered the room.

"All of you, look away right now. This woman truly isn't wearing a bra and is only in her underwear."

"Aw~ But I'm sure they don't mind looking at such a fine looking woman~ I mean, I'm pretty sure they're already horny as fuck just looking at how damn gorgeous I am."

It too a few seconds but everyone, excluding Mei and Kushikage, were out if the room, determined to play this off as some kind of weird dream they were having.

Except Yuma.

He was stuck with being awake the whole time.

"Now then..."

Mei let out a sigh as she turned to the oldest of the siblings she was familiar with. She got a nearby blanket and threw it over Kushikage, holding herself back from trying to punch the woman while she was at it.

"Kushikage, why are you even at the Tamakoma Branch?"

"Ya see, I may or may not have had a drinking contest with Rindo."

"By that you mean-"

"He was drunk as fuck by the time I was done with him. I just continued to drink while he was knocked out. Guess I went a hit overboard though."

Mei stared blankly at the woman in front of her.

 _She doesn't even seem to have a hangover..._

Mei let out another sigh as she turned around.

She and this woman had known each other for quite some time now, so Mei knew that it was better to just stay away from her at any cost.

And that was what she was going to do,

"Well, I have delivered what I needed to. I'll be going now."

Before she could take a step forward Mei felt the same pair of breasts as before on either side if her head. She quickly brought her elbow up and slammed it into the woman's stomach, but that seemed to have no effect on her.

The fiery headed woman simply hummed before falling to the floor, dragging Mei along with her.

"This sucks..."

* * *

A tall man with gray hair looked down at the Trion soldiers that lay before him.

There were three different ones, each looking like some kind of animal.

This man seemed to be doing something with them, but it was rather difficult to tell what that was since the area he was in was rather dimly lit. Whether it was to be secretive or just to seem like a villain, we will never know.

To some people this man had a familiar looking face, but to one man it would seem like he was looking in a mirror.

"I bout that Ultimate #2 is enough... If I want to see them again then I also need some others. Not to mention that our idiot leader probably needs protection. Let's see. What do I have to go against again?"

The man continued to mutter to himself as he worked more and more on the Trion soldiers.

"#7 may turn out to be a pain in the neck... I'll just get rid of him while I have the chance."

* * *

The area looked like a bomber had passed by overhead.

This area was the spot Takaoto Mei and two new B-Ranks stood.

After dealing with the terror known as Taiyōko Kushikage, Mei had gone back to the Yagura Branch in order to get Pyrínas. Something particular had come up, so he had not been able to go with her. That something happened to be two small girls, one with heterochromatic eyes and the other resembling one of Mei's squad members.

Pyrínas had been playing with them, as well as the newly formed Tenryū Squad, and was quick to apologize.

Mei had been fine with it, even saying that she only needed some information from him.

Just as she was about to leave the branch office Akasora had ordered an off-duty squad residing in the branch office to go with her. That squad was a two-man squad that consisted of the Neighbor and former leader of the Wanderers - Futoyuki. As well as a girl on his squad - Bōdō Arisa.

The three were now standing in an area that actually held some meaning.

The spot where Futoyuki had fought against multiple Border agents.

"Eh? Eh?"

Arisa did not seem to understand what they were doing there.

"Pyrínas had said that all the areas where he felt that small connection were the areas where fights had happened during the Wanderers' experiment. That helped in many ways. We now know that the person was indeed another Pyrínas who had separated from the original. Also... I have now narrowed the possibilities to less than five."

"There really is no need for us to be here, is there? I mean, you can handle all of this yourself, can't you, Takaoto Mei-san?"

Arisa had still looked confused after Mei's explanation, so Futoyuki had added on that extra comment. He then ignored the girl who still did not quite get it and he looked over to Mei.

"Since I was the one fighting here, there's something that the other Pyrínas must have found out."

"Right. I had already taken it upon myself to find the area that I had helped Yuki. There was also some traces of the other Pyrínas being there," said Mei in an emotionless voice.

An odd creaking sound came from the the gloves around her arms as her grip tightened.

"I should have already figured something would come from being so nonchalant about leaving the damaged train and broken Trion Solders there."

"We'll make sure that Yuki-aniki won't know you said that. Anyways, what are we going to do now? Just because he was here already doesn't mean we'll know where he is right now."

"Leave that to me. I'll figure things out in a few seconds."

Futoyuki felt Mei wished she only had to fight opponents like this inside a set ring, but he made sure not to say so out loud. It was best not to provoke Mei when she was like that.

"Is he even in Mikado City? Surely he would leave by now. He'll have long since escaped to an area we can't reach."

"Not necessarily."

Mei pointed down at her feet.

On her feet were combat booths that had gauges on the side of each one, giving it a more technological look.

"Earlier, I had gone over every inch of this area, so I know every part of it. I even checked the

buildings, both inside and out. As we were walking, I used my Trigger to shake the ground a bit, making it seem as if there were more than just the three of us."

"What do you even mean by that?"

"He should be hiding within a safe area of the area if he thought a large amount of agents were searching for him." Mei glanced around. "That is able to keep him in place, meaning he should still be here. I don't have great hearing like Kikuchihara, but with tweaks to this trion body I was able to enhance my hearing."

"You truly are a crazy woman... So what then?"

"The safe area can easily be found out given how everything in the area sounds. There was still that area that the old man you were with stayed in while you fought. That place doesn't seem damaged in the slightest, even as Izumi was fighting. The sound I created by stomping went through the area and helped me figure out where any hollow sounds would come from in that area." As she spoke, she lightly tapped the soles of her boots on the ground. "That being said, I figured out which parts of each building should have hollow sounds and which ones should be able to stop the sounds from moving any further. I was able to tell if something that wasn't suppose to be there was. In other words..."

Using one hand, Mei pulled out a nearby road sign for the large trucks that passed by in that area.

"He's there!"

As she shouted, she threw the sign like it was a javelin.

The sign flew over a kilometer through the air and stabbed into a normal-looking concrete wall.

But...

A tall figure frantically jumped to the side. He seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. It had looked like someone hiding behind an invisible wall had frantically jumped out from behind that cover.

Mei lowered her hips slightly and then chased after the man as quickly as a bullet.

With that speed, Futoyuki and Arisa could not cover for her. Arisa spoke after they had been left behind like that.

"What is with that woman!? Any normal person wouldn't even _think_ of messing with their Trion bodies like that! And she did it while using echolocation! Is she some kind of bat!?"

"Not so sure myself," responded Futoyuki as he stared off in the direction Mei had disappeared in. "But I'm pretty sure she gave us a lame answer to sound smart. She was just saying what came to mind, and not how she actually found him out."

"But he used something like Bagworm so we couldn't find him."

"That's true. So... Shit."

Arisa looked confused and Futoyuki sighed before continuing.

"He might be taking things from Sanshū's specially made Trion Soldiers."

* * *

Mei was quick to get ahead and stop the running man from going anywhere else. Now she stood in front of him, fists ready to land a hit.

"Stop. There's no point in running any more. Now that I have gotten in front of you, I'm sure you can figure out that you can't outrun me."

"That just means I have to beat you down, doesn't it?"

Mei looked up and raised an eyebrow.

Standing before her was something most would call an abomination. A man was standing there. He was around six to seven feet tall with gray, grassy hair. The thing that made him seem so disgusting was the fact that his legs seemed to be like a deers, his arms were large and clawed, like a bears. He also had large wings behind him, like the ones from a specific Trion Soldier Mei had taken out that went by the name Ultimate #2.

 _I was right... He was in each area so he could collect these parts and make it into a new body for himself..._

The deformed man give a sinister grin as he held out one of the bear-like arms.

"It weights a good amount, but I have reinforced each part with enough Trion to take a direct hit from a Black Trigger. There's no way you can win."

The man spoke in the same voice as the Trion Soldier in the Yagura Branch, expect this man sounded far more annoying.

Mei didn't say anything.

Now that she knew what was going on she was certain on what to do.

 _Just take him out._

It was something so simple that she didn't need her Side Effect to think about it. She was more than needed for this type of opponent. To beat something that had enough defense to block a Black Trigger meant she just had to land hits that were harder than any Black Trigger made.

Fujin was a Black Trigger that used remote slashes. Yūma's Black Trigger used "seals" for different things. Shikifuku had absolute strength, absolute slashing ability and an absolute defense. That meant she needed to be much stronger than any of them.

"Now then..."

Mei lowered herself and got into a runner's pose. Her eyes quickly looked around the area before landing back on her main target.

"Extension. Ground, building. Throw at 50%. Run at 20%."

Mei slightly tilted her head once she heard these strange commands. She would often say these kinds of things when she wasn't able to touch the gauges on her gloves or boots, but otherwise kept quiet.

What happened next got her thinking this fight may be a bit more difficult.

"..."

The two bear-like arms that were at Pyrínas' sides did something very odd. The left arm was held out as if grabbing something while the right arm was facing the ground, as looking like it was about to grab something. Both arms quickly came off of Pyrínas' shoulder and moved, only being connected by a chain.

The left arm shot out and grabbed a nearby wall from a building, making it fall.

The right arm stabbed into the ground and came out holding a large slab of the ground.

The two arms quickly went into the air and moving back before rocketing forward and throwing both the wall and the slab of ground right at her.

Mei reacted quickly and moved to the side.

Just as she came to a stop, Pyrínas was in front of her, bear-like arms high above his head.

Mei could see multiple holes in his defense, so she used them.

 _Gauge: 25% power._

Mei quickly moved forward and slammed her right fist into Pyrínas' stomach.

"?"

Instead go flying off for miles on end, Pyrínas stood there, arm above his head.

 _So 25% won't be enough._

Mei gave a small nod to herself as she quickly jumped back. She did so just in time not to be hit by the large bear-like arm that slammed into the ground.

A small crater was now where she once stood.

 _Let's try..._

Mei walked over to one of the buildings to her side. She easily destroyed it with one of her punches.

Pyrínas lifted his two bear-like arms up to block.

Mei grabbed a rather large piece of the destroyed wall and threw it with as much force as she did the street sign.

Mei slid her hands on the gauges on the side of her boots a second after that.

She quickly ran forward and appeared behind the pieces of wall she threw, meaning she was now in front of Pyrínas.

 _Gauge: 50% power._

She landed another punch on Pyrínas' stomach. Unlike before, he slid across the ground, arms still raised.

 _So 50% does that much. Going to 75% would be pointless if I could just blow him away with 100%. But then I wouldn't be able to do much concerning speed. And I can't switch fast enough from speed to power. That means I need to get him close up again._

"Extension. Grab. Throw then slam. 50% speed."

Mei jumped to the side as the left bear-like arm shot forward.

She was able to dodge it with relative ease, but had the smallest amount of difficulty with the right one as it also shot forward.

From her position Mei could see Pyrínas running on his two deer-like legs as fast as someone like Midorikawa using Grasshopper.

She destroyed another wall and quickly threw it at him.

Pyrínas was able to use his deer-like legs to jump into the sky. From there his pair of wings folded outward a and kept him in the air.

His two bear-like arms were quickly pulled back in using the chains they were attached to.

Mei looked up at Pyrínas and walked back over to the wall she had first destroyed.

She grabbed a few pieces in one hand while lifting a large piece with her other. She reeled both arms back and started throwing the pieces of the destroyed wall up into the air.

.

From his spot in the air, Pyrínas easily dodge each attack headed for him.

It wasn't that he was afraid of getting hit. He just thought he would entertain his opponent.

The original Trion soldier known as Pyrínas was unique in his abilities. He had three main abilities and a few minor ones with that.

He was give an ability to store up large amounts of Trion from people who gave him any and give it to anyone he wanted, pushing that person's Trion limit beyond what it was and thereby giving them a larger amount of Trion to use for the rest of their lives. He had to willingly give the person the Trion and any person had to willingly give him their Trion.

All of Trion could also be used by him. His strength was rivaled only be Mei, meaning that with raw strength he was able to cause a large amount of damage.

His final main ability was that each Pyrínas made was able to take in and fuse with any other Trion soldier, so long as they were willing or had no core.

All of this could be seen by what this current Pyrínas was doing.

 _I suppose now is a good a time as any._

.

Mei's mind was slowing down to that of a normal person's. Her Side Effect had been calculating thousands upon thousands of different ways to combat this foe. All of that calculating started to make her mind a bit slower.

This didn't seem to slow her down in the slightest though.

She continued to threw pieces of of different buildings she had been destroying.

It was easy to see why she was dubbed the #1 person of destruction via Trigger.

Having enough of this small issue, she walked over to a perfectly in tact building.

She held her hands out...

"Here I go."

And she pulled the whole building up from the ground.

.

Pyrínas could only stare in shock as he watched this girl, this small girl lift a whole building from the ground and threw it into the air like it was a shot.

"Fly! 50% speed!"

Pyrínas quickly elevated higher into the air, wings spread out to gain the altitude.

He could see Mei start walking over to another building and couldn't help but be impressed that she was able to do so much.

"Beat down. 100% speed."

If the ones who had faced off against the Shooter Neighbor in the Aftokrator invasion saw the Trion soldier then they would say that his current speed made that other Neighbor seem like he was going slow.

Pyrínas zoomed through the air, falcon-like wings and bear-like arms spread out, ready to attack.

He quickly hid behind the buildings and flew threw each one, making sure not to hit any of them.

He was quickly behind Mei.

 _I just need one hit._

.

 _I just need one hit._

Mei could no longer see her opponent, but that didn't stop her from staying on the offensive.

She continued to use her slightly enhanced hearing to try and find where Pyrínas currently was, but there was far too many places that were making noise in the area.

She noticed something from the corner of her eye and made a quick jump to the side.

Pyrínas flew by her.

Mei was about to attack again, but stopped herself when she noticed a large bear-like arm in front of her face.

She quickly took a step back and ended up tripping on a piece of the wall she had destroyed.

"I really am too strong. Now I just need to find that idiotic captain so he can call the others over. Once they seen how much better I am than the original... Hehehe~"

Mei looked up at Pyrínas with an expressionless face.

She was using this idiot's rambling to her advantage. She forcibly slowed down her thinking, giving herself more time to mentally heal herself and get more speed in ear calculations.

As she did so...

"!?"

 **Warning: A Gate is opening!**

"It's about time. I set those things up I don't even know how long ago. Having them barely work right now is such an irritations. Now then..."

 _I can't Bail Out right now..._

Pyrínas lifted one of his large bear-like arms high above his head.

"100% power."

Like an iron hammer, the arm fell down.

Mei readied herself to move when...

"50% defense."

 _"Whoa~ Mei-chan, you having some trouble there? I guess you got carried away and are just taking your time. Having some fun maybe?"_

Mei recognized both the voice and the person now standing in front of her.

"You two..."

 _"Not just us."_

* * *

"We need to keep these things from coming through so our lovely monster can do her thing."

Kako gave an impish laugh as blobs of Trion floated around her head.

Next to her was Kuroe Futaba, Kōgetsu in hand and at the ready.

In front of the two was a rather large Trion soldier that seemed to be like a stuffed bear.

"Well then, shall we get this over with? Too bad we have to take down this cute Kuma-san."

The blobs floating around Kako's head started firing Hound directly at the large stuffed bear-like Trion soldier.

Kuroe was gone from her spot next to her captain and appeared behind one of the Trion soldier's leg, a zig-zag streak behind her.

* * *

"We honestly need to tell Mei-san that she can rely on us more."

"You can say that again."

"Will you two please be quiet and hurry up."

Three orbs of Trion flew in the air and circled around a large amount of deer-like Trion soldiers. Each one fired a free laser-like beam before rotating and slicing the group of Trion soldiers in half.

Another group of deer-like Trion soldiers a brown and gray blur was speeding by and taking off their heads. Two green glades could be vaguely seen in the blur.

Multiple shots were being fired in a short amount of time, each one hitting the eyes of the deer-like Trion soldiers in the center. The person firing comminuted to do so until they were getting attacked by some of the Trion soldiers. This wasn't an issue though as the person quickly stabbed them in the eyes with a green Stinger that was wrapped around their middle finger.

To finish it all off, twenty beautiful ribbons of green light fluttered around, each one taking off more heads of the Trion soldiers. As soon as one ribbon was gone another one would quickly replace it, making it seem like these ribbons were swords of their own.

"Well, we can discuss this with Mei-nee later."

These four were Border agents who made up the B-Rank Kotowari Squad.

* * *

Mei got a small smile on her face as she stood up.

She looked over at the boy who was standing near by with a black pole on the back of his hip. She then turned to the large man with gray hair who had just protected her.

"Thank you for the save, Pyrínas. I'm fine now. And as for you... Shouldn't you be resting?"

Tsukiko Yuki gave a laugh as he leaned against one of the buildings that had yet to be destroyed.

"Is that really what you should be worrying about right now? Pyrínas here had to leave Michelle, Mitsu and Tenryū Squad behind to deliver something to you. They'll probably get on your case for doing that."

"Deliver something?"

Pyrínas #7 easily pushed his fellow Trion soldier back.

"... Yes. ...I am here to deliver to you Trion."

.

The Pyrínas that was fused with multiple Trion soldiers knew what was going on. Her knew what was about to happened.

And he would stop it.

"25%-!"

"No, no, no."

The Pyrínas that was fused with multiple Trion soldiers had to move back as something came at him. That something was a black pole that was how stabbed into the ground.

He quickly looked over to see Yuki lazily waving at him.

"Sorry about that, but I can't let you stop this. As her boyfriend, I must make sure that no actual harm comes to Mei. I will save her from anything."

Yuki let out a small laugh right after and thought,

 _I wish I could say that, but that's not how our relationship works at all. The day Mei would need my help is the day I bow down to that idiotic airhead. No. Mei is way out of any of our leagues. The only reason you've been able to handle her this far is because she still needed to figure you out. Now that she has..._

Yuki stopped thinking, deciding to just nod towards the other two that were there.

.

The original Trion soldier known as Pyrínas was unique in his abilities. He had three main abilities and a few minor ones with that.

He was give an ability to store up large amounts of Trion from people who gave him any and give it to anyone he wanted, pushing that person's Trion limit beyond what it was and thereby giving them a larger amount of Trion to use for the rest of their lives. He had to willingly give the person the Trion and any person had to willingly give him their Trion.

All of the Trion could also be used by him. His strength was rivaled only be Mei, meaning that with raw strength he was able to cause a large amount of damage.

His final main ability was that each Pyrínas made was able to take in and fuse with any other Trion soldier, so long as they were willing or had no core.

What Pyrínas #7 was doing was giving Mei the Trion that had been willingly given to him by a small heterochromatic girl, a beautiful female captain, a group of four squad members, a teacher, an older sister with red hair, a chibi albino, a loving boyfriend and a few more.

"Question. What exactly happens to everyone else's Trion when they give it to you?"

"...Think of it like using a Trigger. ...They use the Trion, but it comes back. ...What I do though isn't like that."

Mei tilted her head to the side in a rather girly manner.

"You see... When I give someone Trion, it greats a new 'limit' on how much Trion they have... Meaning that if you had a Trion level of 10... After I give you all this Trion... It would be raised to level 15..."

Mei's Trion level was indeed at 10, which meant she was now expanding so that it would become 15.

"You know... This really feels like something out of a shounen manga."

"Yes, well... Futoyuki and Hatomi were the ones who created us... Just look at how the former is..."

"Fair point."

Once it was all done, Pyrínas #7 moved away from Mei and headed right towards Yuki. His outstanding height did make Yuki a bit jealous, but he out that to the side once he saw Mei ready for round 2.

"Now then. Shall we finish this?"

Mei stood there, fists ready to deliver the finishing blows.

"I will now go about showing you what the #1 agent of destroying things via Trigger can do. Are you ready?"

The Pyrínas that was fused with multiple Trion soldiers was far more wary of his opponent now. He quickly brought his arms up to block, putting as much Trion as he could into defending, but...

"First hit."

Mei was quickly in front of the Pyrínas that was fused with multiple Trion soldiers. She moved her fist forward and was determined to end this fight.

Her fist connected.

* * *

The Pyrínas that was fused with multiple Trion soldiers flew the air at amazing speed.

He finally came to a stop once his body smashed into the wall of a buildings in the Forbidden Zone.

 _I had put all defenses up to block that hit and yet she still destroyed it! My defense was destroyed!_

The Pyrínas that was fused with multiple Trion soldiers was about to get out of the small hole he had made because of the impact when...

* * *

Yuki let out a whistle as he watched the other Pyrínas fly through the air at an amazing speed.

He was going to compliment Mei on her attack, but she was already gone when he turned to her.

He walked over to his own weapon and took it from the ground, placing it back in its holster.

He then turned to the Trion soldier that was still there.

"So, do you want to watch the show? This is a pretty safe distance away from them."

"Won't you have to deal with any issue that may come up...? After all, you are the one who decided on using me to give her that extra Trion..."

Pyrínas #7 didn't turned to see Yuki, but he knew that the A-Rank was looking over at the a Border HQ with a fond expression.

"Yeah, well, I may not be able to protect her or anything, but..."

Yuki turned to Pyrínas #7 and gave a kind smile.

"It's also a boyfriend's job to support his girlfriend at all times, isn't it?"

* * *

Mei was in front of the Pyrínas that was fused with multiple Trion soldiers in only a few seconds.

She slammed her foot into him, sending him further into the building.

She grabbed him and threw him into the air.

The Pyrínas that was fused with multiple Trion soldiers looked as if he was going to fly away. A scared look could he seen on his face as his two falcon-like wings unfolded.

"I'm not letting you get away."

Mei was once again too fast for him to keep up with. She was how above him, both wings in her grasp.

She did a flip in the air and slammed her heel on his head, sending him straight to the ground with the same amount of force and speed as the previous hits. In her hands were the two falcon-like wings that had been attached to his body.

Trion was leaking like crazy from those two new holes on his back.

The onslaught of power attacks didn't end there though.

Mei used her fall to her advantage and used all her weight to land on the Pyrínas that was fused with multiple Trion soldiers.

Chunks of earth flew through the air as a rather large crater was made. In the center if the crater was the #1 person most likely to destroy everything via Trigger and the Pyrínas that was fused with multiple Trion soldiers.

"And the finale."

Mei bent down and grabbed the two bear-like arms that had so much power and defense. They were broken - completely destroyed. She grabbed them and tore them off. She did the same thing with the two deer-like legs. That left just the body and the head.

"Your plan was extremely pointless and flawed from the beginning. Futoyuki is here to stay. He is a part of Border now. There is no way that the Wanderers would return for him, or even the other Pyrínas. What's more is that you made no real effort to understand their reason for being here in the first place. They wanted to test us, you just wanted to do whatever you wanted. Your way of doing this was even weak. That small amount of Trion soldiers is nothing compared to all of Border's agents. Your defense may have bested my power, but that doesn't mean you wouldn't lose. There are people more skilled and much more experienced than me. My teacher, who uses a Black Trigger, could take you out. He wouldn't even have it use said Black Trigger. Now then..."

Mei stood straight up.

She moved her left hand over the gauge on her right glove.

The bars filled up all the way.

"I'm going to make sure you don't cause any issue with the kind Pyrínas we have living with us. Ah. I suppose I'm starting to sound like a scolding mother. My bad."

With one final attack, the fight was over.

The crater that Mei had been it grew even more with this attack.

The Pyrínas that was fused with multiple Trion soldiers was destroyed.

Mei had finished her assignment.

"Now I need to focus on helping out my squad. As their Operator."

* * *

"..."

"..."

Commander Kido Masamune could only sigh and rub his forehead as he sat in his chair.

He was currently in a meeting room with Border directors Shinoda and Netsuki, as well as Branch Director Akasora Chishi. On the other side of the table stood Takaoto Mei.

Takaoto Mei was a kind, beautiful, and almost motherly person. She was kind to all. She had beauty that could outclass any model. She was motherly to her squad.

"If I may. I would like to apologize for the damages I have caused and will pay for anything needed. Although... That was all in the Forbidden Zone, so..."

She _is_ the Ultimate Operator and A-Rank Border combatant with a powerful Trigger after all. She had power, speed and the aura of a strong person. Even when in her real body she is able to rival - and even overpower at times - someone like the muscleman Kizaki Reiji from the Tamakoma Branch.

Any limitations she made for herself were most likely necessary.

She was bother terrifying and majestic all at once.

"Th-that isn't the issue!"

Director Netsuki spoke up, but was ultimately ignored by the girl.

Seeing things may turn out, Branch Director Akasora decided to get their attention.

"Look, you all knew how much destruction Mei causes when you sent her out. That being said, this was a bit too much. Mei, I know you understated what Director Netsuki is talking about. The way you fought was a bit... _much._ It isn't particularly something that would look good for Border."

"I am fully aware of that."

"Then-!"

"Alright."

Everyone in the room turned to Commander Kido, who had been quiet the whole time.

"You did the assignment assigned to you. For that I'm glad. _But,_ that being said, the amount of destruction you caused was far beyond anything you've been able to do before. There will be consequences for that. One of which being you telling how you were able to increase the damage you are able to do now. As well as having your Trigger confiscated for some time."

"Yes. Of course, sir."

"I am not done."

Mei could only let out a small sigh as she heard all the new restrictions that were out upon her now.

 _What would others do at a time like this..._

* * *

"This sucks."

Yuki could only laugh as Mei finished telling him everything that had happened at the meeting after the fight.

The two were currently on the roof of the Yagura Branch, looking up at the clear sky.

It took all of Mei's willpower not to go on and attack everything as her hand was held by Yuki's.

She knew that handholding was the simplest of things that a couple should do, but she would always get embarrassed and start attacking everything if she thought about doing that with Yuki.

She still wasn't too sure how they really got together, but she wasn't caring about things like that anymore. This was who things were now, so she would enjoy herself.

"I know it sucks, and I guess that's more my fault than anyone else's, but you really did look awesome when you beat that other Pyrínas down. You should have seen how the others reacted when you were attacking. Toby and Suzume were in complete awe, Kako was grinning and both Takeshi and Kuroe looked like they wouldn't be going against you at any point in time anymore."

"I should probably apologize to those two then... I don't want them to be scared. Especially since I'm in the same squad as one of them."

"Nah. It's fine. Takeshi is more aware of things now. And Kuroe should be fine as well. Heh. Maybe you could get her to give Kitora a chance now."

"I'm not going to butt into that issue. Not my place."

"That hadn't stopped you before. You butted right in that one time with me and Kou."

"That's different. I needed to make sure you didn't rip his head off over something so stupid."

"Hey! That wasn't stupid!"

"Yes. It most certainly was."

This felt nice.

It was nice to just talking, like normal couples. It didn't really feel like anything had changed between the two, but that was fine with the both of them. If something had changed then they would have fixed it and made it right again.

Kako may have been the first person to stop Mei from doing much more than she needed to. Murakami may have come before Yuki and started talking to Mei. There may have been many more that had helped Mei in some shape or form.

But...

 _I was the first to completely understand her. No way is that going to be taken from me._

Yuki smiled as he glanced over at Mei.

Mei was great. She treated almost everyone in a kind and caring manner. She always looked out for the people she cared about. She would quickly beat down anyone who would even think of going against things she cared about.

She had her quirks that ranged from her embarrassment to her manly strength, but that made her all the more appealing. She was definitely human, regardless of if others thought otherwise.

Yuki couldn't help but chuckle when he remembered what his former squad's Sniper had once said.

 _"Yuki-san, you and Mei-san would honestly make the best couple. I've even come up with the best name for you two."_

 _"Just make sure Mei doesn't hear it. Even my SE won't save me from her wrath."_

 _"Oh be quiet. Anyways. The best name for you two is YuMe. I'm sure this goes without saying but if this ships comes true then that would honestly mean-"_

"'Dream came true'."

"Hm? What about a dream?"

Yuki chuckled as he shook his head.

Mei gave a girlish tilt as she saw Yuki laugh.

Yuki gave a kind smile as he turned fully to Mei.

"Hey. Look over there for a second."

"No. It's obvious what you're going to do. I'm going to turn my head back to you and you're going to kiss me. You should know that's pointless with me."

"You're right. I should just..."

In one quick motion Yuki moved forward and placed a quick kiss on Mei's lips.

" **-!?** "

Yuki took that as his cue to get up and head right back inside of the building.

Mei was quickly behind him, face more red than Arashiyama Squad's uniform.

As he ran, Yuki couldn't help but to have a single thought in his mind.

 _Suzu would have loved to have seen that._

* * *

She was bother terrifying and majestic all at once.

Any limitations she made for herself were most likely necessary.

She _is_ the Ultimate Operator and A-Rank Border combatant with a powerful Trigger after all. She had power, speed and the aura of a strong person. Even when in her real body she is able to rival - and even overpower at times - someone like the muscleman Kizaki Reiji from the Tamakoma Branch.

She was motherly to her squad.

She had beauty that could outclass any model.

She was kind to all.

She was a kind, beautiful, and almost motherly person.

Takaoto Mei _is_ all of these things.


	2. Queen and Princess

**Queen and Princess**

* * *

B-Rank Kotowari Squad was made up of five members. Three were females while the other two were males. The males were a Shooter and Attacker respectively, but all three of the females were All-Rounds.

While all three certainly were All-Rounders, each one was very different from each other. One was actually the Ultimate Operator. Another focused more on sniping. The last one used a sword with a special Trigger.

They were very odd females.

One more so than another.

And the only reason was...

"I honestly need more material."

That single sentence was what made many, many, _many_ people dash for the nearest exit. Some stumbled while other tumbled. They all just wanted to get away from the girl who had uttered such a phrase.

The only one who had no hope of escaping was the poor unfortunate soul called Satori Ken.

Misaki Suzumebachi was a 100% shipper and fujoushi. She would use anyone and anything to get what she wanted when it came to things like material for her next doujinshi or story. She was rather well known for these kinds of things and even made a small profit by selling the doujinshi she made.

She wasn't the only one who was like this though. After finding out that there were many, many, _many_ more people in Border who were like this she started seeking out help in her endeavors. That had lead to the creation of the group that was feared by a good percentage of Mikado City's population - the Shipping Squad.

The group made up of mostly females, with a handful of males, was rather notorious for taking pictures and recordings of others who seemed to be in situations that would make some think the people were together, or at least had a 1% chance. They would use these pictures and recording for one thing or another.

This group also had its own ranking system that was based off of Border's own system. The casual ones who would participate in enjoying the things but not actually actively doing anything were the C-Ranks.

The ones who went out in search for pictures and recording of events and situations were the B-Ranks. They were the majority of the group and were very helpful.

Then there were the A-Ranks. These people were the ones who would go out of their way to _make_ these kinds of situations happen and due what the B-Ranks do. They were feared for their great work and abilities to get what they wanted. There were a few in this rank. Kako of Kako Squad, Ayatsuji of Arashiyama Squad, Sayako and Nasu of Nasu Squad and even Sawamura from HQ were among these people.

Then there was her.

The only S-Rank person in this group.

"That's it! I'm honestly going to do something about this!"

"Wait a minute! Shouldn't you get ready for your next match!? Don't go wasting your time on something like this!"

Misaki Suzumebachi was a 100% shipper and fujoushi. She would use anyone and anything to get what she wanted when it came to things like material for her next doujinshi or story. She was rather well known for these kinds of things and even made a small profit by selling the doujinshi she made.

She stood as the only S-Rank person in the group for her ability to make any sort of situation happen. She could always get the best photo shot. She could always find the best times to record. She could always make the best doujinshi that made both males and females of Mikado City check online stores to see if her doujinshi were up.

"Come on, Ken! We're honestly going to find something good today! I honestly feel it!"

"Where!? Where do you feel it!? Your boobs are pretty big, but there's no way you can determine something like this from that alone! Really! You should be practicing! You want to win, don't you!?"

"Don't give me that. I've finally gotten Betty back. No way am I going to just let her sit off to the side while I go about honestly practicing like nothing."

"When did you get that thing back!? I thought Yuki-san and Takaoto-san too that chainsaw away! By the way, what does your mother and sister even think of you having such a thing!?"

"Hm? Oh. A kind person had found poor Betty and returned it to me. As for my mother and sister... They are both find with Betty. It may seem rather naïve and careless of her, but my mother knows that I won't actually end up killing anyone. You see, unlike you, I'm quite responsible."

"Don't give me such a pitiful lie! I've heard better lies from kids who still think that curry and hurry mean the same thing!"

"Hm? When was that honestly an issue? Don't tell me... Hehehe~ You were honestly like that, Ken~?"

"Wha-!? Nope! Nope, nope, nopity nope! I was, and still am, the pinnacle of a smart, kind and generous man that caters to any woman he is around."

"Then why are you honestly backing away from this fine woman who is asking for your assistance?"

If anyone was still in the area then they would see that Satori Ken was close to one of the exits while Suzume continued to sit in her seat with a calm expression on her face.

Satori knew what would happen if he stayed in the area.

While there may have been simple ranking for people in the Shipping Squad, there was a sort of hidden rank. This one didn't go with the A-B-C style that the SS or Border went by. This one was dubbed the Gofers. Satori Ken, Toby Awdry and Sasamori Hisato were among these people.

"Now that I'm thinking more about this... I honestly need to renew my contract with Iko-san, Arafune Squad, Koala-chan and Kuruma-san. Who knew he was into that kind of thing."

Satori truly wanted to run away from his best friend right now. Even with the current situation, Suzume was thinking more about those contracts she had made with other agents.

Satori himself had been forced to help Suzume out multiple times, but he had to admit that the payments for that were always great. Whether it be some erotic yuri doujinshi or actual cash, he was paid well for his hard work.

"Oh crap! I honestly forgot!"

Satori tilted his head and lowed his guard a bit.

"Sorry, Ken. I honestly forgot that I'm going to the bathhouse nearby with some others."

Satori tried his best to keep certain images out of his mind.

"Oh, and Ken..."

Satori looked towards his best friend and saw her giving him a rather dark smile while holding her Trigger.

"If anything happens and I find out you were involved... **I'll honestly stab you a thousand times in the dick. That denki anma will honestly seem like a massage.** "

Satori gulped and tried his best to stop his legs from shaking like crazy.

Most knew that it was wise not to go against the two older women of Kotowari Squad. While Mei would pummel anyone to the ground, Suzume would make sure that someone would end up with a hole in the middle of their head.

"Ah! Senpai! I finally found you!"

The two heard a rather familiar voice come up from behind Satori.

Taiyōko Hoshi and Narasaka Tōru were walking up from behind Satori. It was a rather odd duo.

While Suzume was happy to see her underclassman, she was a lot less excited to see her upperclassman. It was a lot like an older sister who loved her sister but hated her boyfriend.

"You cleared out the area... You want to look for some more material, don't you?"

"How ever could you tell?"

Suzume rolled her eyes as she walked up to Hoshi.

"It isn't too hard to figure out. You're actually a rather simple woman that most could understand if they took five seconds to hear you speak."

"Nope!" This time it was Satori who spoke up. "Suzu is most definitely a complex woman who you need a lot of time to get use to! That being said, that trait of hers is not a bad thing. But! Hehehe~ I am the only one who knows her that well. I can name off her favorite color, favorite food, anime otp _and_ real life otp!"

"All of that isn't too hard to figure out. You can't say you know her too well when you only mention knowing the basics of her. Even I could name all of that. Besides... I'm the one she went to for help in her sniping."

Satori's smile fell a bit at this.

He wouldn't admit it, for the sole fact that it might have seemed to hold a different meaning, but he was a bit jealous that his best female friend had gone to Narasaka for help in her sniping instead of him.

What made it worse was the fact that Narasaka and Suzume hated each other with a passion.

"Oh?"

Both Satori and Narasaka turned their heads to see Suzume looking at them with a rather forced smile.

Her arms were folded under her breasts and she seemed ready to punch them.

"So you two _honestly believe_ you know me that well?"

Her answers we immediate.

"Absolutely!"

"Sadly, yes."

Suzume let out a sigh as she flipped her hair.

This had quickly become a thing she would do when irritated. That just added more to her that wasn't her verbal tick of always adding "honestly" to her sentences.

"Fine. Then tell me this... In most cases, what would I be looking for if I honestly were to scan an area?"

"Reference for a doujinshi or story!"

"Correct."

"..."

"Next question. What would I do if I couldn't find anything particularly good for reference?"

Not wanting to be outdone, Narasaka quickly spoke up.

"You would go somewhere else to find some 'material'."

Suzume held up her arms in an "x" shape as she shook her head.

"Incorrect!"

Narasaka furrowed his brows in confusion.

He really thought that she would go and do something like that. He had seen her do it before, so this all didn't make sense to him.

Maybe she just didn't want him to be right.

Suzume just grinned without answering.

She turned her body in one quick motion and was now facing Hoshi. She continued to grin as she moved her eyes to look at the two A-Rank Snipers looking.

"The correct answer would be..."

Suzume lifted her arms up and placed them on Hoshi's cheeks.

"I would honestly make my own material."

Narasaka and Satori could only stare in shock as Suzume moved in with eyes closed. They didn't think Suzume would go so far as to kiss another girl, her teammate especially.

While the two males were freaking out - and secretly enjoying the scene - poor Hoshi went completely red and was rendered motionless from the shock of being kissed. Not just by someone else either, by her own teammate and upperclassman.

By this point most if the agents who had left returned to the area. What they saw was not what they were expecting.

Suzume continued to kiss Hoshi for another few seconds before backing away with the same grin as before.

"And _that_ is honestly the lengths I'll go to. Although I will admit that Hoshi-chan's lips are softer than Mei-san's."

Suzume walked forward and held up both her arms. She lightly slapped both Satori and Narasaka's cheeks a few times before delivering a hard and resounding slap to both of them.

She then once again placed her folded arms under her breasts and continued to grin.

"I'm shocked that you of all people forgot an honestly simple fact about me, Ken. You two say you know me so well, but that's not even close to the truth. I'm honestly sure that Toby and Take knew me far better than the two of you. Please do well to remember that I am an obscene, rotten girl. That is the essence of being a fujoushi after all. If you can't remember this simple fact about what's on my surface then you have no right to go around saying you know me so well. Now then... I will only forgive you two once you perform a perfect dogeza in front of a large crowd."

Satori and Narasaka could only stare at Suzume.

The two Snipers had forgotten exactly how dedicated Suzume was to one of the things that brought her a large amount of enjoyment. It was such a simple thing that anyone could see, yet only took up 10% of the woman known as Misaki Suzumebachi.

It truly wouldn't be too far out there for people to think that she is a woman who got her beauty and fierce personality due to worshiping the great Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto.

Meanwhile, Hoshi could only touch her lips with her face still being red. This was only her second kiss, but it was the first kiss that was given to her.

"S-senpai..."

"Hm? Oh. I'm honestly sorry about that, Hoshi-chan. I wanted to prove a point to these two honestly idiotic snipers who don't know much about woman and their hidden secrets that I completely forgot how innocent you are. Please don't tell Yuki-san I did that. I'm sure that he would attack, even if it was me who did that."

"R-right..."

"By the way, would you like to join me? I'm heading over to a nearby bathhouse with some other girls right now. I think it would be a good thing for you to get to know them. Mei-san has told me about how you don't really have many people here in Border who you can go to. I would honestly like to change that."

As soon as Hoshi's red face started to go back down to its usual color it went back up to being red. This was partially due to the fact that Mei had told the female sniper about something like that while another part was because the thought of being around that many new people - _naked -_ made her a bit nervous.

The more she thought about it the more pumped up she got.

 _I fight Neighbors, and even Kou-onii-san! S-seeing other females naked... Right! That's nothing! Besides... When I'm older... I... I..._

Suzume let out a laugh when she saw Hoshi go even more red and out her hands on her cheeks.

It was rather obvious what the younger one was thinking.

"Right then. I might honestly see you two later~"

Suzume put a hand on Hoshi's back and started walking away, guiding the younger one so she wouldn't trip and fall.

Satori and Narasaka gave each other a quick look before taking their leave as well.

* * *

"Now, let's get started. Come over here, Taiyōko. Everyone else, we will be borrowing the area of the tub near the tap."

Kako moved toward the edge of the tub on the northern end of the bath and Hoshi unsteadily followed.

Hoshi copied how Kako had her towel on her shoulder and her long hair on top of that, but she was still self-conscious about her body. It did not help that she was comparing herself to Kako. She watched the other girl from a bit behind.

 _... Bigger than me._

She meant her height. Kako was taller than Hoshi herself, yet still shorter than her older sister. Meaning that Hoshi was the shortest.

 _...Why do I get the feeling I have many older sisters at this point?_

As she thought about this odd issue she had, she watched Kako check the bottle that were placed in a bucket. The other female came to a stop.

"Okay, we can do it here. To prepare..."

Kako put her hand in the bucket and stared picking one after another another. She looked at each one while nodding at times.

Hoshi continued to watch as Kako got an empty bucket and placed it in the tub.

"I will be pouring water on you, so please sit still."

As soon as Hoshi closed her eyes, hot water poured over her. It soaked through her hair, and poured over her scalp, neck, and shoulders. The warm caress of the water brought a sense of calm. As she sat with her eyes closed and her straightened back to Kako, she was reminded of the past.

 _...My parents would wash me like this when I took baths with them long ago._

She wondered what it would be like to have them here now.

"Having my siblings is still nice though. Having Kiyo-nii is nice."

"Yeah. Not to mention your squad will take care of you as well."

"Right. ...Ever since I joined, I think these have been happier times for me. But I sometimes think they're been trying too hard. Probably because I'm Kiyo-nii's sister. Whether it's because they're afraid of what he'll do or because he is their former captain I don't know."

"May I ask why?"

"Yeah." Hoshi recalled how they went along with her idea and began to speak with an exasperated tone. "For starters, the first one or two matches I've had with them. They truly a free-formed squad, not as much as Ikoma Squad of course, but they went along with what I had to say far too easily. Although I do appreciate that, it took Kushi-nee to put them in their place. Although I suppose I'm to blame for that."

"They are probably deciding how to properly incorporate you into their squad."

More water was poured on Hoshi. This action had been repeated several times now and she could tell Kako was deciding when it would be good enough.

"Putting that aside, what kind of look would you want to be going for? Your hair in naturally straight to the point of making rulers jealous. Is there some style you wanted?"

"I would like it to be more modest."

She thought she felt everyone glance over at her, but she decided to assume it was her imagination.

"Anyway, a woman's hair is a major topic, so we will throw in the Kako Special of humidity and dry skin protection for free. You have a certain appearance to keep up, right?"

"I don't really worry about that very much, but I guess that just leaves..."

"Yes. The brand you will now sticking to. Changing it would be rather experimental for most, so having a single type would be far better for you."

Kako then showed Hoshi a waterproof phone belonging to Suzume. It showed a site that let one search for good products. It had lists of products in order of name, type, for what sex, comparability, and more.

However...

"What is with these aggressive categories in the genre search? 'For cross dressers', 'peels back the skin', 'an older sister is fine too!', 'cruel', 'crotch arousing', 'quick to prostrate', and 'always running errands'?"

"There really are products like that. It all depends on what you're going for."

 _'_ It sounds more like it just tries to pander to everyone _,_ ' thought Hoshi. 'Anyway, what should I do?'

Kako opened another tan which displayed products related to smoothness and beauty.

 _...There are a lot of 'little sister' and 'hime' ones here, but they're too over-the-top for me. Oh, this is on the list of popular ones._

"Would it be possible to eventually go to a different producys for when I grow older?"

"Oh, of course. Just make sure to do it with me."

The corner of Hoshi's mouth stiffened when she saw Kako's smile, but Suzume began adding to her storyboard in the bath.

"And while naked, Kako says to Hoshi, 'Just make sure to do it with me.' Okay, the next chapter is going to be great!"

"Suzume-chan, I think you just drew up five years' worth of storyboards."

 _Would everyone be okay if I asked Kiyo-nii to make sure she doesn't make any doujinshi involving me_? wondered Hoshi with a half-lidded stare.

But then Kako spoke up.

"Well, we can scold her plenty later. So, you can choose a much more personal product at a later date, but those products usually have specialized chemicals. If you already have another product, the shift can be inconvenient, so keep that in mind. Anyway, what will you do? Do you want a more personal product? Are you sure it wouldn't make you feel better to have one?"

"Why did that last part sound like you were trying to sell me something?"

"Don't worry about it." Kako smiled and held out a hand to stop her. "For now, would you like to use a generic products as a substitute? A generic product is ranked lower than one made by Mei by herself."

Yes. All of these odd products were due to Mei making them.

"You can't make it any cheaper? I'm worried about after I graduate."

"Okay," said Kako while smiling more than necessary. "In that case, we can keep the cost down with a more lax product that most could use without worrying about."

"Without worrying?" asked Hoshi.

"Yes."

Kako showed her the simple and plain bottle in her hand. She began pouring a small amount onto her hand and bluish-white shampoo came out.

"Mei had worked with others on making this one that has different reactions for different people using it. Whether it makes your hair more silky or more fluffy all depends on how your natural hair usually is. She truly is a monster in all aspects."

"Is it really okay to just call her that when she's not here?"

Kako simply continued to smile as she started rubbing the shampoo onto Hoshi's hair. The reaction it had on the hair was almost instantaneous.

"Pfft!"

"Oh my~"

"She looks ready to go out and search for a disco ball to dance too."

"Who knew Mei-san's creation would do something like that."

Hoshi blushed at her puffed up hair and everyone else smiled bitterly. Meanwhile, Hiyami laughed while leaning against the wall on one end of the tub. Just like Hoshi, scarlet tinged her face.

"This is fun," she muttered quietly. "This is actually really fun. In its own way."

She sighed and relaxed her body.

"This is fun..."

She leaned to the side and collapsed onto Hitsugi.

"H-huh? Hiyami-san!? W-wait!"

Hitsugi held Hiyami up, but Hiyami had already passed out. Hitsugi frantically held her up so she would not sink.

"U-um, everyone! Everyone! Hiyami-san is..."

Hiyami slid down in Histugi's arms but then stopped. Hitsugi frowned at this fact.

"...bigger than me!? Sh-shit...no, I mustn't swear! Um, Hiyami-san, I'll be lifting you... Wow! I can properly hook my arm under her breasts! Shit...no, I mustn't swear. At any rate, I've lost! Am I in our group's lowest caste!? Does failure taste like milk!?"

"Um... Are you trying to say Hiyami spent too much time in the bath and passed out? Please calm down, Teikō."

Kako entered the tub while having Kuni help her. Hitsugi turned toward her, but her vision was not great with these thoughts in mind.

"Ah! Instead of a stretcher, you brought some lovely cushions! Okay, let's place Hiyami-san on top!"

A carelessly outstretched hand grabbed onto Kako's "chest armor" and knocked her over.

* * *

"PAH! That's good!"

Most of the girls let out content sighs as they finished their drinks. Off to the side they could see Hiyami laying down with Hoshi kindly fanning her head.

Suzume let out a long, but content sigh as she took a seat and felt herself up.

"I'm honestly wondering if I've stopped growing..."

Some of the girls with lower ranked chests quickly turned their heads and gave small glares or deadly smiles. Some felt rather insulted by this while others looked ready to tear into Suzume. Kako just looked rather amused by all of this.

"You're still young. Don't worry, you'll have time to grow some more. All you have to do is follow Kanzaki's route and stray from Mei's and you'll be fine."

As if to add insult to injury, Kako folded her arms under her own breasts to make them pop out more.

Hitsugi, being the most crazy one, decided that she would voice her complaints in a calm and civilized manner.

...

Yeah right.

"Who cares about those lumps of fat anyways!? And don't get me started on Kanzaki! That woman should _not_ have ones those big at the age of 18! Just wait until she's an old woman! They'll be sagging way to much to called beautiful!"

The ones on her side quickly nodded their heads.

This truly was sad since no one there actually had particularly small breasts.

Well, except...

 _Are breasts really that important to being a woman...?_

Hoshi looked down at her own modest size for a few seconds. She slowly brought her hands up to feel them for a bit before pushing them together. She may have pushed a bit too hard since she winced a bit.

What she didn't notice were the others in the room, staring at her with amusement.

"Anyways~"

All attention turned to Suzume, who now hand her arms under her own breasts.

"A small split from what we were just talking about, yet still very much mop organs on the topic in general. Teikō-chan, you honestly have to tell us about your little experiences wearing those kinds of outfits. You know what I'm talking about, right? The Fallen Angel Erotic Maid outfit and the like. I honestly have never wore things like that since I have no need to be desperate."

"What!? I'm not desperate! And I've only ever worn them because of idiots and their idiotic reasoning!"

"From what I've heard," Kako started with a sly smile, "you wore those outfits to impress your captain. Don't worry though. Kanzaki has also worn those things. Although I'm sure you are well acquainted with that fact."

"Hey, maybe you could honestly lend those outfits to some of these other girls who need help. How about it? Kitora-chan? Kirin? Come on. I'm honestly sure at least one of you could impress Torimaru-kun with your sex appeal. Just honestly squish your boobs like this and he'll melt away like lava."

Suzume and Kako couldn't help but laugh once they saw Kitora go a bit red and Konami start raging alongside Hitsugi. These two women truly were some of the worst when it came to messing around with others.

Seeing how they were teasing others, some of the girls decided that it would be best to get some revenge on the Queen of Ships. The first to take this up was none other than Kunichika.

"So, Suzu, what's up with you and those two idiotic snipers?"

Suzume stopped her laughing to turn to the Operator of the #1 A-Rank squad. She figured that Kunichika was just trying to change the subject before she herself got targeted.

Thinking nothing else of it, Suzume flipped her hair and gave a small pout.

"Nothing is up with them. While I have been improving with Tōru's help, I honestly don't get why I can't shoot properly. I'm a perfect shot with Ibis, decent with Egret, but I'm honestly terrible with my signature Lightning."

Having heard some complaints from her own squad's sniper on the matter, Ayatsuji decided to speak up. She had a smile on her face and spoke in a kind and calming tone.

"Maybe it's because of the weight. Fast shots are your thing, but you're better with the heavy Ibis.

"So what should I do? I don't really want to use Ibis too much. And I'm not the only one with an issue, right, Hoshi-chan?"

Hoshi jumped a bit from spot from the sudden attention she was getting from the others in the room. She hadn't expected Suzume to send everyone's gaze to her.

"A-ah? Oh. Yes. I feel that using the Fujin that goes with Kōgetsu is not particularly handy when I'm attacked. The ribbons aren't much for defending. But I can't seem to figure out how to keep the sword out like the actual Fujin."

It wasn't particularly an issue with defense but rather an issue with attacking regularly. There were times when Hoshi would need to use an actual blade instead of her ribbons of destruction, so she wanted to be ready for that.

Her own version of Fujin was rather difficult to use since, unlike the Black Trigger Fujin, the number of ribbons depends on how many the user would be able to command at once. That meant a long of focus would be on controlling the ribbons instead of on defending. That trade was an issue Hoshi had been trying to get over instead of taking the easy way out and just not using the Trigger.

While the two female combatants of Kotowari Squad continued to think, Konami had finished calming down. Now that she was a bit more calm she tilted her head to the side with a confused expression.

Then she said,

"Why not just make your own sniper Trigger, Suzume? And Taiyōko, can't you just form the blade as a sperate thing from the ribbons, or lower how many ribbons you use?"

Everyone turned to Konami, then back to Suzume and Hoshi.

"..."

"..."

In no less than five seconds did things get chaotic.

Once they heard the suggestion, Suzume and Hoshi quickly started going over to their things. They were tripping and stumbling the whole way, but they made it.

"Why didn't I honestly think of that!?"

"P-paper! Paper and pen! I-I need something to write with!"

"Here, here! You can use my tablet! I've honestly got my phone!"

"Th-thank you, senpai!"

"Oh! Oh! Could you help me out once you're done!?"

"Yes!"

The other gile in the room could only stare at the two weirdos going off to do their thing. They knew how energetic Suzume could get, seeing Hoshi like this was a rather nice and interesting treat as well though.

They could all only think,

 _Why do I feel like things will be getting a bit crazier in that squad?_

* * *

Wakamura Rokurō wasn't too sure but he thought he had just seen the exact same vending machine he just passed by around five minutes ago. He had been walking around to think of different ideas to use during his squad's next B-Rank War match.

And he swears that he just passed that vending match five minutes ago!

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Wakamura looked around to see exactly where he was. He was around the area of Border's engineering department, meaning he had to pass by a certain squad's operating room to get there.

That particular squad had a member that got his captain mad in a matter of seconds and made his heart beat a little faster. Although he wouldn't actually admit that last part to anyone. Especially the Yagura Branch's representative agent. Wakamura liked keeping his body in tact.

In the end, though, it really didn't matter if he went by that room. He had already told that girl that they should stay clear of each other. He meant it as in staying away until the B-Rank Wars were done, but he may have forgotten to mention that last part.

"Oh, it's you. Are you looking for Taiyōko? She hasn't come up today. If you're one of her fans then I'm pretty sure they're holding a meeting a the room down the hall there. I'm pretty see they're going over some pictures they were able to sneak in last time she was around."

Wakamura looked up to...only look back down. A small and chubby man was standing if front of him. This person happened to be Terashima Raizō, Border's Chief Engineer. He was also well aquatinted with the girl that made Wakamura's heart beat just a little bit faster.

It took a few seconds, but Wakamura registered what was going on now. He also registered what Terashima had just said.

 _A fan... I'll be sure to tell Tsukiko-san about that later..._

Wakamura could feel his eye twitching and had to force himself to stop it from continuing.

He was about to explain that he had just been walking around when he happened to end up there but, he was stopped from talking by the other continuing to talk.

"Oh, wait. You're the one Taiyōko goes on about sometimes. I don't pay too much attention to her rambling, but I do hear her saying a lot of things about you. We all pretty much hear it. You actually have a lot of enemies now because of her."

Wakamura felt very conflicted now. One one hand he could feel his heart beating a bit faster, while on the other hand he wanted to look around the area to make sure no one came up to attack him. He wasn't sure if he should be more worried than happy or vice versa.

Now that he knew that Hoshi had spoken quite a bit about him, Wakamura wanted to know what she had said about him. The issue with that was the fact that he didn't want to see like one of these fans he had just been informed about. He truly was in a sort of bind that only a man in love that denies it could be in.

"Well, I'll be going then. If you see Taiyōko, tell her to come by again. She's been busy with the B-Rank Wars and others are complaining."

The twitch was back.

Wakamura gave a nod as he started walking off himself. He knew that his eye was twitching once again but didn't even bother to try and stop it. He would make sure to get on Yuki's good side by mentioning the others that seemed to have a fan base around Hoshi.

He was truly a megane who was in denial.

* * *

Misaki Suzumebachi truly was a difficult woman to handle. Even people like Narasaka, Miwa and Kazama found her too difficult to handle at times and simply walked away once she got going. What's more is that she could be hard to understand once she was excited over something.

Taiyōko Hoshi truly was an easy girl to handle. She was kind to everyone and always tried her hardest at anything she did. She was the type of person who could only be hated out of petty jealousy for her looks and charm. What's more was that she could fight and win battles against some strong opponents.

The difficult woman and the kind girl. This may have been an odd combo to see, but these two got along quite well. It showed when they left their friends at the bathhouse to find a small café to eat at while a tablet and papers were scattered about all over the place.

"So what of we make it more angular? Tōru hates when I start swinging Ibis around, so I'd honestly rather not do that. Then there's the issue of the speed. I'm honestly known for my quick shots, but the weight will be an issue. I could always put it away, but that honestly brings up the issue of Trion consumption."

"You're right. Well, what if we make a holster for you? I mean, the squad uses Teleport frequently, right? Moving around wouldn't be an issue for you. And if you have a holster for it like Kiyo-nii does for Idōgetsu then you can carry it around easily enough. Not only that but you could use it for defense. You said that Narasaka-san doesn't like you swinging it around, but he should be fine with using it as defense, right?"

"Regardless of what he thinks a both it, that should honestly work. While it truly would be an irritation to not have him as a teacher anymore, focusing more on this is better. At least for right now."

Hoshi nodded her head as she typed away on the tablet in front if her before drawing some lines on one if the papers on the table.

Suzume crossed her arms and turned to the ceiling. She was thinking about what she would do in case Narasaka really did stop helping her out. She could always go to Azuma or Mei, but she didn't want to bother either one of them. Mei was already helping her out with guns and her Scorpion-Singer.

 _There's also Ken. I'm sure he would be really happy if I asked him for help. But then again, he may take it too far and get too excited. That's no mentioning that Arashiyama Squas has Mikumo-kun going there because of Kitora-chan. I honestly don't want to burden them any more with less room. Then again..._

As she wrote down more notes, Hoshi glanced up to see Suzume staring off into space with a light blush on her cheeks. She could only image what her upperclassman was thinking, and they weren't things Hoshi wanted in her head.

Deciding that it would be better to fill the silence with small talk, Hoshi started moving her lips to speak.

"Suzume-senpai, if I may..."

Suzume snapped out of her thoughts and shook her head a bit. She hadn't noticed that she was spacing out, so she was a bit embarrassed. Not that she showed it.

She turned to Hoshi with a small smile on her face.

"Hm? What is it?"

"Kiyo-nii... When Kiyo-nii was captain, did he... Did he make you guys do anything to join his squad? He tends to tease others like that, so I thought that..."

Hoshi wasn't sure if she should have asked anything concerning her oldest brother. She didn't know if there were still some scars from when he had left his former squad. But that didn't seem to be the issue as Suzume got a fond expression.

Suzume started thinking of the different things that had happened while they were still known as Tsukiko Squad. There were a lot of good times, but one particular one came to mind. It answered Hoshi's question, as well as made Suzume giggle a bit.

"Now that you mention it... He had told both me and Toby the same things. That is, we honestly had to announce to a big crowd 'I will always give everything my all! 100%!' We had to say it as loud as we could."

"Oh my... I don't think I would had the guts to do something like that. Saying that is one thing, but saying that in front of a large crowd is too much for me."

"Yeah. Apparently Takeshi thought the same thing. He had been on the squad longer than me, so I didn't get to see him do it, but Mei-san had honestly told me that they recorded each of us doing that. I was honestly able to say it easily while Toby pretty much broadcasted it to the entire city."

The two girls giggled as they thought about Toby standing on top of the Border base with big speakers on either side of him. It would be just like him to do something like that as naturally as walking.

.

Once they stopped and went to just smiling, Suzume looked at Hoshi while she worked. She had to admit that she could see why other girls would be envious of Hoshi. She herself felt a bit like that.

While Suzume was confident and proud, Hoshi was meek and mild. While Suzume flaunted all she had, Hoshi wore modest dresses with the worst being a skirt. While Suzume did have to work on her appearance at times, Hoshi seemed to have natural beauty that most definitely made her look like a princess. While Suzume denied that she had feelings for two certain people, Hoshi readily admitted that she was in love.

Wait...

 _Where did that honestly come from!?_

Suzume could feel her cheeks heat up a bit and quickly grabbed her drink.

She wasn't sure why that last thought had appeared, but now it was starting to get to her, and she didn't know why. There was no one she had those kinds of feelings for, so she shouldn't be thinking like that. But here she was, being jealousy of Hoshi for giving up and saying she was in love.

It had happened at the end of a certain day where Hoshi had had an awkward conversation with Wakamura. Once it was just the girls again, Hoshi had come out to Suzume and Mei and told them that she definitely loved Wakamura Rokurō.

Mei had Yuki.

 _YuMe... A dream..._

Hoshi admitted to liking Wakamura.

 _WakaHo... Two hard workers..._

Suzume was in denial.

 _But there's no one..._

Shaking her head roughly, Suzume finished her drink and turned back to Hoshi.

Apparently the younger girl hadn't noticed her small breakdown since she was still working on the two Triggers.

Deciding to get her mind off of the matter of herself, as well as wanting to have some fun, Suzume started speaking.

"So, Hoshi-chan. How are things with you and Wakamura-kun? Have you honestly told him how you feel yet~?"

The reaction was instantaneous.

Hoshi jumped up, hitting the table with her knee, and quickly went red. If it wasn't for the fact that both of them had already finished their drinks then both Suzume and Hoshi would be upset for messing up the papers.

Suzume only gave a kind small that was anything but.

"Wh-what!? S-Suzume-senpai... Of course I-I haven't told him..."

Hoshi started to fidget in her seat, making Suzume internally squeal at how adorable she looked.

"I... I haven't even seen him since the hallway... He really does want go he away from me... B-bit that's fine! I need to focus on the rank wars! So does he! I'm sure that's what he's thinking! It's fine if... If he just doesn't want to see me..."

Suzume's smile quickly fell.

"No. That isn't fine. That honestly isn't fine. Putting my title and pride aside, I can say from a standpoint as a friend, upperclassman _and_ as a girl that it most certainly isn't fine. While you are pretty young for something serious, that honestly doesn't mean that you can't try. A girl like you deserves to be happy with someone that she loves."

 _While a difficult and obscene woman like me..._

Suzume shook her head once again to clear her thoughts.

She turned back to Hoshi and patted her head a few times. She would often do this with her biological younger sister when she was upset, so she would do that now.

Something else she did...

"Just leave it to your Onee-san! I'll find some way to get you two together! I honestly won't directly tell him, that's your job!"

Before the blushing Hoshi could saying anything, Suzume was already leaving.

Suzume smiled to herself as she took her leave. She would leave Hoshi to work on the Triggers while she would be out and ready to help Hoshi with her love life. After all...

"I am honestly the best at getting people together~"


	3. Night of Shooting Stars

**Night of Shooting Stars**

* * *

 _Misaki Suzumebachi, a Sniper working for Border, made her way down the hallway with the speed of a cockroach, descended the stairs, and made her way to the first floor entrance._

 _She got a few stares from others who had remained at school for clubs and the like. She didn't care though as she rushed to get to her shoe locker before a certain brown haired Sniper found her._

 _"Instead of running around and wasting time, why don't you hurry up so we can get to training?"_

 _Suzume froze when she heard a voice behind her. She recognized the voice as the voice of someone who didn't go to her school, yet was there._

 _"Uh... Narasaka? Why are you here?"_

 _She slowly turned around by the shoe lockers and Narasaka Tōru cleared his throat._

 _"I figured that I might as well come to pick you up for practice so that you don't try to ditch."_

 _"Hm. Look, I'm the one who honestly asked you for help, right? Why the heck would I run away like that? Besides, regardless if I did ask you for help, I wouldn't run away."_

 _"Tsk. I already know how stubborn you are. I guess that excuse was rather pointless," Narasaka muttered._

 _"Narasaka?"_

 _Suzume tilted her head and shoved a hand inside her shoe locker. She felt something unexpected inside. Whatever it was fluttered weightlessly through the air and she grabbed it before it reached the floor._

 _It was an envelope._

 _It was an elegant greenish-brown envelope that seemed to be made of high-quality Japanese paper. It also had cherry blossom decorations here and there._

 _After looking at the front, looking at the back, flipping it over again and again, and otherwise inspecting it, Suzume completed her appraisal with a tight expression._

 _"It's a love letter!?"_

 _"Wha-?"_

 _Narasaka's face went a little pale._

 _"Wha-?"_

 _Satori Kem similarly tensed up while pressed against the wall near the entrance after having decided to eavesdrop on the two._

 _But Suzume noticed neither boy's reaction._

 _With the letter in hand, she began to wander toward some place where she could be alone, but she remembered that she still had her shoe locker open, hesitantly moved back and forth, and finally tore open the envelope's seal where she was because she could not resist any longer._

 _She checked its contents._

 _The letter was also on high-quality Japanese paper. It was beautiful paper that would probably have been transparent when held up to the light. Slender handwriting covered the paper, but Suzume had trouble reading it. Still, she made full use of her hazy brain to read just the parts she could make out._

 _"I...am...waiting...on the...roof...top?"_

 _For a while, she had trouble grasping the situation, but understanding finally arrived. It sank in like melting ice. She held the letter overhead in both hands and began spinning around in crazed joy._

 _"KYAAAAAA! That's so honestly awesome! I mean, usualy a girl is the one to make letters, but this just honestly makes it so much betterrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! He must honestly be a romantic to make something like this!"_

I'm going to kill him!

I'm going to kill him!

 _Both the two male snipers cursed the boy, but Suzume gave that no thought whatsoever._

 _That was when the cruel side of Narasaka reared its ugly head._

 _"Th-that's a pointless waste of time! Come on now, let's get going to practice! You need all the practice you can get!"_

 _"Thaaaat is honestly a different issue! Not only was this guy sweet enough to make a letter, but he also used such honestly amazing style with it! Screw Shoujo Basics 101! This guy is a real man who transcends these boundaries of cliché!"_

I'm going to kill him and bury him! The mountains should work!

I'm going to kill him and bury him! The mountains should work!

 _Oblivious to the angry boys, Suzume tried again and again to read the illegible letter._

 _"Uwaaaaaaaah! He's probably a wonderful and honestly hot Prince Charming~!"_

 _She of course had no idea that a guy who could be considered "Prince Charmings" was curled up and holding his heart just five meters away while another one stood in front of her with a pale face._

 _"The name. What about his name? ...Oh, there's something at the end. Is this it!? H-Hi-Hiro? That's it! It starts with 'Hiro'! I can't read the next part, but I bet it's the name of some amazing and kind boy! Okay, time to go! The stairs to love await me on the roof!"_

 _In her school clothes, Suzume changed direction with a frightening burst of speed. If she had calmed down, he would probably have started worrying about what to say if a boy really was waiting for her, but she was far from calm. And after being completely left behind, Narasaka (+1) gave a comment of his own._

 _"That pace is too much to keep up with at times..."_

* * *

 _Once the Sniper named Suzume finished climbing the stairs to love, she flung open the door to the rooftop._

 _The winds of freedom blew through and the rooftop seemed to stretch on forever._

 _And who did she find restlessly waiting for her?_

 _"Hello. Did you read my letter, Misaki-san?"_

 _It was a large, pudgy man whose dried lips split apart in a smile._

 _She stared._

 _"Heh."_

 _Suzume gave a weak laugh._

 _At the same time, she clenched her fist hard enough that she thought it would break and she opened his eyes in such a ghastly expression it seemed tears of blood were going to start flowing from them._

 _"I had a feeling it was something like this. I didn't get my hopes at all. Not in the slightest!"_

 _The pudgy boy gave a questioning look as tears started to gather in Suzume's eyes._

 _She suddenly collapsed on the ground with tears bursting from her eyes like a large fountain._

 _"UWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH! LIFE IS SO HONESTLY UNFAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIRRRRRR!"_

* * *

Suzume smiled at memory. While she didn't like what happened, she was flattered that the boy had given her that letter. She had been kind and let him down easy.

Then she punched both Satori and Narasaka for spying on her.

 _They deserved it. Although that honestly was sweat of him. But regardless of if I liked him or not... I'm not a woman who's good enough to have a happy love life._

Suzume gave a bitter laugh as she walked through Border in search of two other people.

Suzume, while being the Queen of Ships, had never once thought she was worth a significant other. She always considered herself a difficult and obscene woman, far too much for anyone to properly handle. That was why she loved shipping others together, at least she could imagine them being happy in her stead.

"Well, I honestly suppose I shouldn't have expected this to be too easy. Seriously, where are those two? She wasn't in their operating and the other one could be anyone, if not at the booths."

As she continued walking, Suzume folded her arms under her breasts.

She had spent around twenty minutes looking for two people and had yet to seen one of them. She knew that the squads they belonged to had the day off, but she couldn't even find one of the squad members to ask. She had asked around a few times but still came up empty.

She was starting to get tired now and she wanted to get back home. She was now starting to feel a bit down and just wanted to spend some time with her younger sister and mother. The only two biological family she had right now.

Even as she felt down though, she continued to put up her usual appearance I'm front of everyone around. It was easy to remember the looks she had gotten when Tsukiko Squad disbanded. She didn't want to have any looks like that directed at her again.

She didn't think she deserved it.

"Misaki."

Turning around, Suzume came to a sigh she never thought she would see.

There, on the ground, was Narasaka Tōru. He was performing a perfect dogeza.

A dogeza required shrinking down one's entire body using one's flexibility, so it required exercising the entire body as well as anaerobic exercise. To pull them off required three sets of five hundred training dogeza every single day. That being said, Narasaka knew nothing of the different types of dogeza.

Yet Suzume was still amazed.

Although she did bring her phone out to take a picture.

After a few more seconds of this Narasaka stood up and dusted himself off.

"There, are you happy now? I did as you said and gave you a perfect dogeza. Now stop being so annoyingly sad."

Suzume took a quick breath at hearing this.

She gave nothing away about how she was feeling. She had learned how to hide that ugly side of her after the looks she got from Tsukiko Squad's disbandment. There was no possible way for Narasaka to tell how she was really feeling.

And yet...

He was still able to tell that she was feeling down.

The relationship between the two was never a good one. It was by no means a friendly one, but it wasn't anywhere near the level of Yuki and Ninomiya. Even so, Suzume never thought that she was close enough to Narasaka to the point of him being able to do that.

She really wasn't even sure if Satori would be able to tell that she was sad. She had been sad around him multiple times, but he never seemed to notice with her acting.

"Now stop being such a difficult woman and-"

"Heh... There it is... It's honestly nothing knew to hear an insult coming from you, but..."

Suzume gave a pained smile as she looked up at Narasaka.

Narasaka was taken aback by the look he was receiving. He had said worse things to Suzume before, but this time it really looked like he had gotten to her. He found it odd since he could always tell what ticked her off and would use that.

He had never seen her with this kind of expression though.

"Sorry, sorry. I guess this really does prove that I am an honestly difficult woman that... That honestly doesn't deserve someone."

Even though she whispered the last part, Narasaka still heard.

"What stupid things are you saying now?"

The surprises didn't seem to stop for Suzume since she got one of the biggest ones yet.

One of the last things she could ever expect happened at that moment.

Narasaka Tōru, #2 Sniper of Border, enemy and teacher to Suzume, grabbed her by the shoulders and brought her in close. He leaned in forward and connected their lips together.

It was a weird kiss that made Suzume wonder what was going on.

After a few seconds it ended though.

"Look, I don't really care for all of this shipping stuff, but if that 'material' just now gets you to stop acting like that and focus on sniping then it is what it is. It's annoying, but just come to me if you need something that trivial done to focus."

Suzume didn't really pay much attention to what Narasaka was saying. She was far more interested in the lingering feeling that was left on her lips. Touching it with her fingers made her realize that it truly did just happen.

Suzume could only smile a small smile as she folded her arms above her breasts.

"Narasaka..."

As she spoke, Suzume continued to smile. This smile was far kinder and delicate than anything she had ever given.

"I honestly, truly hate your guts. But... I still haven't forgotten what I said to you when I asked you to help me out. I will still strive to become a woman you can't help but to like, as well as one you can't love without."

Suzume moved her hand to the back of her neck.

"Here. Stay still for a moment."

Doing as he was told, Narasaka stood still and didn't move a muscle.

Suzume took off the necklace around her neck that had a musical note on it. She pulled the small chain out of the loop and leaned forward to put it around Narasaka's neck.

"Don't get the wrong idea here. This is honestly payment for helping me out. I still don't want to be anywhere near you. And I still feel bad for Shouhei-kun and Akane-chan since they have to deal with you."

Suzume backed away and gave a quick laugh.

Narasaka looked down at the chain that was now wrapped around his neck.

"Now don't go losing that. I'm honestly going to be asking for it back once I get far better score than you. Do you understand?"

"Then what was the point of giving it to me in the first place?"

"I wonder..."

Suzume turned around and gave a small laugh. She gave a back-hand wave as she started walking away.

"I'll see you for practice later, Tōru."

* * *

Walking around Boder got tiring after a while.

What's more was that he really hadn't gotten anything done!

Wakamura let out a rather loud sigh as he took a seat. He wasn't sure why but he couldn't focus at all on the next match. He knew that he would get told off by Katori later, but that really didn't matter much to him right now.

What did matter was what he had been distracted about.

It had been decided that he would at least take a small peak into the certain operating room to see if that girl was in there. Instead of a princess-like girl there were two boys. They were the hound and laser of the squad.

He had quickly been teased by the hound for looking for the princess-like girl before getting a subtle threat from the laser for some reason. That squad truly was an odd mix that acted like siblings to each other. Anyone could tell that from just a glance.

"You really wouldn't think that they had that falling out just a while ago. How are they able to make up like that anyways? Kotowari is far too stubborn and Awdry is too rowdy for anything to really get done. Although I guess Takaoto-san can make them do almost anything."

A well-formed squad that got things done when they needed to. That squad had been going down in rank once the B-Rank Wars started, but now they were at an even higher position than ever. They had lost their captain and ace but still managed to rise in rank.

"That's amazing."

"You talking about KS?"

Wakamura really had to wonder how he didn't notice all these different people walking up to him without know. In front of him now was the Sniper for Border's #5 A-Rank squad.

Satori looked down at Wakamura with a box of sweets in his hands. Wakamura didn't bother asking about them and instead focused on the conversation.

"Yes. I was thinking about how they've been doing lately."

"Right~? Now that they've been set straight, everything's going fine for them~ Kotowari is getting along with others better, Toby is getting more exercise and Suzu continues to get more beautiful with her Hidden Stinger. Although, the addition of Taiyōko really boosts the squad's power and support. Aren't you two going out?"

Wakamura could only splutter as pink started creeping up onto his cheeks.

"Wh-what!? Of course not! Why would you even think something like that!?"

"Hm? I don't need to be Suzu to see that you and Taiyōko have a thing going on. Wait... Don't tell me... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh man! Suzu's gonna have fun with this!"

"Well... What about you and Misaki!? There have been rumors that you two are dating!"

"Huh!?"

Now it was Satori's turn to go a bit pink.

"Wrong, wrong. We're not dating. ...Yet."

Satori made sure to whisper the last part to himself.

Satori had absolutely no doubt in his mind at this point. It may have been a lingering feeling before, but as time went on he really couldn't say that he ever had the feeling with any other girl he knew. The feels continued to grow each time he was around her and he didn't want it to stop.

It was obvious to him.

He loved Misaki Suzumebachi.

There was a big difference in love and like, especially between Japan's form of it and America's form of it. Or so Toby had told him. He was well aquatinted with both love and like.

He had met multiple girls that he ended up liking.

He had met only one girl that he ended up loving.

Seeing the goofy smile on the sniper's face, Wakamura decided to start talking again.

"So... Is that box of sweets for Misaki?"

"Hm? Oh! Yeah! She won't forgive me or Narasaka until we do a perfect dogeza for her! I figured I would score some points by getting her some sweets too! No one other than me and her family know what kind of sweets are her favorite! Actually... KS probably knows to. But they don't count!"

"Are you going to tell her you like her? Now would be a good chance with those sweets you've got."

"Nope! I'm planning on telling her after the B-Rank Wars. If I told her now then it might mess her up during a match. That being said... You shouldn't do that."

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean." Satori nodded his head as he took a seat and lowered his voice. "Getting it out in the open between you two right now is best for the both of you. You're getting distracted because of her. Even if she doesn't like you back, at least you got it off your chest. It'll help you focus more."

Wakamura thought about it.

It really would make things easier for him, and that's not mentioning the fact Hoshi had already kissed him.

Although...

"Why are you giving me this advice? Not that I'm not grateful."

Wakamura and Satori hardly spoke to each other. They may have given each other passing glances from time to time but they had never really sat down and had a long chat with each other.

Satori didn't seem to mind and just grinned.

"Think of it as one guy hopelessly in love giving advice to someone in a similar situation. We guys need to stick together and help each other out when we need it."

It was a simple thing. They help each other out since they were both hopeless boys. They both tried to go for a girl they thought was out of their leagues.

Wakamura was fine with the reasoning.

"Alright. I'll tell Taiyōko how I feel about her. ... You wouldn't happen to know where she is, would you?"

Before Satori could answer, there was a buzzing sound.

Satori reached into his pocket to pull out his phone. He saw that it was a message from Suzume and quickly read it. Once he was done, he turned to Wakamura and grinned.

Wakamura moved back a bit of the grin.

"No need to worry. Just go by the park by the Yagura Branch in around an hour or so."

Wakamura raised an eyebrow, but said nothing else.

Satori just continued to grin as he stood up, box of sweets in his hands.

"Well, I'm gonna go give these to Suzu. See you later."

"Right..."

Wakamura really didn't know what to think at this point.

Having some closure though he got up and started walking away. His kind was already back into thinking about the next match. As well as what would happen later on.

* * *

Kako Nozomi, captain of Border's #6 A-Rank squad and vice-captain of the Shipping Squad, could not help the smile that spread across her face.

There were quite a few things that amazed her, like Mei in action, how terrible Kushikage could be, and the lengths Suzume would go for material.

"So we're putting it on later tonight. Would you honestly help us out, Kako-san?"

What was going on what none of that.

Although Kako was amazed nevertheless.

In front of her sat the captain-commander of the Shipping Squad and two of her friends. These two friends were Shashin Minubuki and Shana Lee of Shor Squad and Tsukiko Squad respectively. Together, these three girls made up what was known as the Rock Girls Trio.

They were rather well known for putting on random concerts and even putting up some song online. All three had wonderful voices and both Suzume and Minubuki could play any instrument after a while of learning how to play. They took on any sort of genera asked of them, but they mostly stuck to rock music, giving them the title Rock Girls Trio.

What had Kako amazed was the piece of paper in her hand. The paper had song lyrics on it for what seemed to be a Pop song instead of their usual rock. Although, the song wasn't for them to sing in the first place.

Suzume looked at the older woman with almost pleading eyes while the two next to her were chatting away.

"You know I'm always fine with helping out. Besides, all you need me to do is spread the word of this concert, right? That should be easy enough. Although... If this song is for who I think think is then you'll need to find a way to keep her 'dragon' away."

"Don't worry. I've honestly asked Mei-san for help already. Oh yeah, and could you also help her get ready after telling a few people? The outfit is in a box near Mei-san's desk. I've already asked someone others for help, so the latter part is honestly the only issue."

"Let me guess, you asked Satori-kun for help first."

"But of course. He's honestly the one I trust the most to get things done."

Kako's smile turned into an almost pitiful one.

 _That poor guy._

Shaking her head, Kako turned to the two who were sitting next to Suzume.

They had been chatting with each other the whole time and not said a word about the plan. They also helped out when they could with taking pictures and the like but this was different.

"So, how do you two feel about this?"

The two girls turned to Kako.

"Minubuki is fine with it as long as she gets to rock out afterwards!"

"Pretty much. Besides... It could be pretty entertaining with those two being the targets~"

Kako nodded her head, already well aware of how these three girls thought.

She faced Suzume once again and couldn't help but to remember so etching about her.

Suzume may have been known as the Shipping Queen by others for her massive amount of impressively drawn doujinshi and writing of stories that could rival and actual author, but her title was really shown when she was trying to get others together. She had created multiple,e plans for multiple people that had actually ended up getting those people together.

Those people had just been classmates and others who Suzume saw regularly, but this time was different. One of the people in question was someone that Suzume saw as another younger sister now. That meant she would give it her all and then some.

The males of the current Kotowari Squad and former Tsukiko Squad had a tendency to show affection to those they were close to by being rough in some shape or form.

The females of the current Kotowari Squad and former Tsukiko Squad had a tendency to show

affection to those they were close to by meddling in some shape or form.

Suzume was currently meddling in someone's love life, so that showed just how much she cared. She had done something like this before and had gotten Director Netsuki to take things slow for a while when with came to Arashiyama Squad and their PR jobs. That had just been because their Sniper had been tired and their ace not being far behind on that.

Kako herself had dealt with this affection before as well, by both Suzume and Mei, so she understood exactly what this meant.

"Alright then. Shall we get to this? You only have a few hours to get this done, right? I'll help to make sure it is a success."

Suzume beamed at this and gave a deep bow.

"Thank you very much!"

Kako could only smile.

* * *

Taiyōko Hoshi certainly was a girl someone could be envious over. Her beautiful, pale skin, beautiful, soft hair, beautiful, dark eyes. It was rare to see her ever step on an ant or a spider and would often be seen giving up her food for random animals around her. It was no wonder to anyone why she was called a princess at times.

But even she had some things that set her apart from other girls, more so than her beauty and kindness. One if those things was how she loved tinkering with different things and creating new things. She would often focus on making something out of trash or scrap and could be seen at times going to the engineers at Border to assist them. She had even created a few prototype Triggers that have now become part of her and her squad's arsenal.

She was the meekest of her siblings, but she was generally the better one as well.

So, knowing all of this, one would have to wonder why exactly she was getting told off over text message by the captain of the B-Rank Katori Squad.

 **Hey, stupid, idiotic little girl, stop getting Wakamura worked up. He's not focusing, meaning he's getting on my nerves. Actually... He does that anyways. Whatever. Just quit your crap and go smack him or something.**

Hoshi was really confused.

Then she felt her phone vibrate once again.

 **Oh yeah. And tell him to get his ass over here. NOW!**

Not only did Hoshi not know what Katori was talking about, she also didn't know how the B-Rank captain even got her number.

"Miura-senpai, maybe?"

Not knowing what else to do, Hoshi typed back a message before putting her phone back in her pocket.

She wasn't sure what was going on, but now she started to worry about what was wrong with Wakamura. She had been able to admit to herself that she had a crush on him but she never did anything else about it. She was much too kind and quiet to say anything about how she felt.

What's more, Wakamura had said that they should stay clear of each other. Hoshi would do exactly that until Wakamura walked up to her and said it was fine to be around each other again.

"Maybe that's what she meant... The reason he is acting weird now, as well as the reason behind him saying we should keep a distance might be the same! But what is wrong...? I can't go to him, but maybe I could get someone else to do it!"

The poor girl had know idea that she was the reason for Wakamura's current issues. She alone had been the reason he said that to her and she alone had been the reason he couldn't focus on his next match.

"Let's see... Toby-kun may be too straightforward... Takeshi-kun won't really care enough... Mei-nee might be the best option... No! Suzume-senpai! She will be able to get the answer while also being subtle about it!"

Hoshi couldn't help but feel happy that she now had a plan. She would get to know what was going on with Wakamura and try to help him as best as she could.

If was perfect!

"Oh. Girly-Kiyo."

Hoshi jumped up, her feet actually leaving the ground, when a voice spoke behind her. It was a voice she was familiar with. It was also a voice that made her go a bit pink.

Standing behind her was the captain of Ikoma Squad.

He stood there, looking down at her. He didn't give any particular look, but Hoshi could still feel her cheeks heat up a bit from just his presence.

 _No!_

Hoshi shook her head and slapped her cheeks a few times.

 _If I really do like Waka-kun then I shouldn't be acting like this just because a handsome man is in front of me! Lust should not be a sin I fall prey to!_

After hardening her resolve, Hoshi looked up with a dazzling smile that only she could pull off.

"What can I do for you, Ikoma-san? Is there something you needed from me?"

"Suzu-tan said ta spread the word 'bout the concert that RGT is puttin' on later. She texted me before, but ah barely got it."

"Concert? RGT? I'm sorry, but I don't really understand..."

"RGT means Rock Girls Trio. And yeah, they're puttin' on a concert in the park near the new branch."

Hoshi gave a hum as she held her hand to her chin.

This was the first she was hearing about any sort of concert for all the time she had been a part of Border. Apparently it was something that happened often enough for people to be casually talking about it.

She would make sure to ask another squad member about it later. For now though...

"Alright. Thank you for telling me about it."

"No probl'm. See ya around, Girly-Kiyo."

"Ah! My name is Hoshi! Taiyōko Hoshi! It's fine if you forgot..."

"Ho-tan, right."

Hoshi couldn't help the blush that suddenly appeared on her cheeks this time around. This time, though, it was from having called her that so casually. Someone she didn't know too well.

That's when it finally hit her.

She had forgotten to tell him something very important.

"I forgot to wish him luck in the next match!"

"You really are too nice at times."

Hoshi quickly turned around to see Kako walking up to her, arms folded and a smile in place.

Hoshi had absolutely no time to say anything since Kako had quickly walked up to her and started dragging her away by the arm. She had tried to get some words in but they were drowned out by the sound of fast moving footsteps that the two were making.

This is yet another problem that Hoshi wasn't sure about. First it was Wakamura, now Kako was dragging her some place for no apparent reason.

 _This truly is an odd day!_

* * *

"Rokkun! How are you!?"

Wakamura saw a boy with black hair with a white "halo" on top that seemed to work well with his heterochromatic eyes of blue and red (contact). In his arms was a small puppy and behind him was Wakamura's mentor.

Wakamura met up the three half way and gave a greeting to the halo boy while pretty much ignoring his mentor.

"Hey there, Shiro."

"Um... I'm here too. No 'hello o great mentor of mine'?"

"What are you doing?"

"I am actually looking for...Taiyōko from Kotowari Squad."

Inukai quickly fell to the floor with a dark cloud over his head. He was apparently pitiful enough since the puppy that had been in Oshiro's arms patted his leg.

Ignoring the older male, Oshiro and Wakamura continued talking like the friends they were.

"Oh. You're looking for Hoshi-chan? I'm sorry, but I actually don't know where she is right now. We were..."

Oshiro stopped for a moment and went a bit red.

"Anyways... I suggest you make sure that Onii-san doesn't know you are looking for her. That would give both Mei-san and Akasora-san more to do."

"Yeah. I know. Only you and Satori know I'm looking for her."

That seemed to be some sort of signal for Inukai to add in his two cents since he jumped up and gave a thumbs up. He seemed to have gotten their attention since they both stared at him as if he had just suddenly appeared and had not been there the whole time.

Inukai continued to grin as he started speaking.

"As an awesome mentor, I shall help you out in this endeavor, my poor little Rokkun. I happen to know where our young Taiyōko Hoshi-chan will be in an hour or so."

"Does this have to do with that message you got from Misaki-chan earlier?"

"As a matter of fact, yes. She and the other two of the RGT will be putting on a concert in the park near the Yagura Branch. That, my lovely Shiro-chan is where I wish to take you on a date tonight. Not only that but, apparently Hoshi-chan will also be there."

"So she'll probably be there with the rest of the Yagura Branch. Now I see."

Even as he spoke, Oshiro continued to have the blush on his face at the mention of their date.

Meanwhile, Wakamura was finding this a bit bothersome now.

If they were playing by the Yagura Branch then that meant that Yuki would be there. If Yuki was there then that meant she would be hanging around Hoshi. And _that_ meant Wakamura would have no chance at being able to tell her how he thought he felt.

Wakamura crossed his arms and let out a frustrated sigh.

"Well, we're going to get going now. We'll see you later, Rokkun. Oh! And good luck with Hoshi-chan!"

Wakamura gave a nod while he waved at the two.

 _Those two... He and her are actually alike, now that I think about it._

That random thought had actually got Wakamura thinking about that now. Not only were the two of them very friendly with very few people who didn't like them, one of the main people who didn't like them was his captain. They both knew pretty much the same people as each other and even their appearances weren't too far off from each other.

It made a person like Wakamura wonder if those two were related instead of Hoshi being related to the obscene Kushikage, wild Yuki, and the genius Mukuro.

"I suppose none of that actually matters, though."

* * *

It was finally time.

At the park near the Yagura Branch a large crowd had gathered in front of a stage. There had been a complete set up for the stage and some people could see a brown-haired boy moving around the stage while a black-haired boy with a scarf was behind the stage.

A drumset was on the back end if the stage with a microphone in front of it. Two more microphones were also set up on the sides of the stage. A banner that read "RGT" could be seen hanging from the rafters.

All this work had been in little to no time and every single time it happened a lot of people wondered how this could be done so quickly without others noticing.

That was easy to figure out though.

Thanks to Suzume and a few others, Director Netsueki had been persuaded to get help in fixing the stage up whenever the three girls wanted to put on a small concert. They had said this would be great for Border's image. That was more enforced when Suzume had been able to get well known agents to perform. Kitora and Karasuma had gone up in popularity with the opposite sexes once they got on stage.

.

"Good, good~ Alright! Everything's set up! Take will be taking care of the lights, so we'll honestly be fine!"

Suzume grinned to herself as she stood ready for the concert in the park. She looked out into the crowd and easily recognized a large amount of people.

There has never been a fee for watching them play, but small booths had been set up to get some money. It never mattered to the girls though since all three loved putting on these sorts of concerts anyways.

There was an issue though.

"Where is that guy!? I honestly made sure to get Inukai to tell him that this was going on! No way he honestly didn't come!"

Suzume continued to grumble as she scanned the crowd for a fifth time.

"Alright. I was finally able to get her to come here."

Suzume quickly turned around to see Hoshi and Kako standing there.

Hoshi held her hands in front of herself while she looked down with a blush. She was no longer wearing an overly modest dress but rather she was wearing a dress that seemed to be made of ribbons. The ribbons wrapped around her body nicely and gave off the impression she only had those ribbons. Thankful, for Hoshi, the ribbons were sown together and the most that was showing was her shoulders, stomach and her legs from the knees down. In a way, it made her seem like an exotic dancer.

Kako, on the other hand, still wore what she had been wearing for the day.

Suzume looked over Hoshi for a bit and nodded her head.

Off to the side, Shana and Minubuki were talking once again.

"You know," said Shana, "this feels more like a shoujo fanfic instead of a WT one. Not to mention we hardly get any lines in this whole thing."

"Minubuki doesn't really care. So long as her music is here, she is fine with it."

Shana shrugged her shoulders and continued to get ready.

Now back with the others...

"Now then... Hoshi-chan, I would really like you to go on stage and open up for us. We honestly aren't-"

"Hey, Suzume, we're ready to go over here!"

Without turning around, Suzume grabbed the nearest thing, which was a drumstick, and threw it as hard as she could at Shana, making her fall to the ground.

"As I was honestly saying... We honestly aren't ready yet. We really need you to do this for us. Don't worry though. You honestly don't have to dance if you don't want too. At the most we need you to honestly just sway with the music."

Hoshi thought about it, and thought about it, and thought about it some more.

She finally came to a conclusion and pulled out her phone. She dialed a number and whispered some things in it before showing it to Suzume.

The voice on the other line could be heard loud and clear saying,

 _"Fuck it. I guess I'll do it. But remember not to be such a bitch next time and just tell me beforehand."_

Hearing the cursing, Hoshi quickly ended the call with a red face before turning back to Suzume.

"Yes. I will do it."

"Great!"

* * *

Being at a place like this with this many people around was _not_ something Wakamura wanted to do right now. He had just wanted to find Hoshi to talk to her. Now he couldn't even find any clue as to where she could be.

What's more...

"Wha-!? Suzu... I'll make sure to have a... _talk_ with her about this..."

"Just stop already. She looks good up there. Although the ribbons may be a bit much."

Wakamura was currently hiding behind a tree while Yuki and Mei stood on the other side of said tree.

The last thing Wakamura wanted to deal with was a raging Yuki pulling out Idōgetsu and threatening him with said Trigger.

He did have to admit that he was curious as to what the two were talking about. At first he thought that it was Suzume, but the way Yuki sounded was like...

 _No way..._

Wakamura quickly pulled his head from behind the tree. From there he could see Yuki and Mei facing the stage. And who should he see on the stage except-

 _She's going to sing!?_

Wakamura felt somewhat defeated right now. There was no way he would be able to talk to her at this rate. The best he could hope for was to wait things out until he could get free from the tree and Hoshi would not be singing.

Before he could even hope to try and speak away, he heard Hoshi start speaking from the stage.

"Ah... Hello...! Oh. Too loud... I apologize. A-apparently there seems to be some issues and... The wait will be a bit longer. But I... I have been sent out to... To open up for them... Although this song... I apologize if it is not what you wish to hear..."

Wakamura from behind the tree and Yuki from in front of the tree seemed to have the same reaction and thoughts at that moment.

 _Give it your best! If anyone has anything to say then I will face them myself!_

From his spot he could see Hoshi take in a deep breath as the music started playing.

The music playing was far from the usual music that people would hear from the RGT. This was very much a Pop song that seemed to go well with Hoshi and her current appearance.

As she started to sing her voice carried out wonderfully through the park as the lights started to move around before landing on her.

Hoshi could be seen just standing there with her eyes closed, lips moving as the music continued to play.

Wakamura's grip on the tree strengthened a bit when he saw that Hoshi looked rather awkward on the stage.

The song itself combined with Hoshi's voice was truly something that captivated all who were listening to it. There were some who looked like they didn't care much for it, but they remained respectfully silent as the song continued.

Once Hoshi had made it passed the first chorus she looked like she was getting more and more into it. Yet she still seemed rather awkward.

* * *

"Gah! What's she honestly doing!? She isn't going all out!"

Kako had to suppress her laugh as she watched Suzume fume over the fact that Hoshi was hardly doing much when it came to moving her body.

Suzume herself had said that they only needed Hoshi to sway with the music, but this was as if she was just moving because she was being hit with a breeze.

"Looks like I'll need to take the stage for a bit."

That was when Kako stopped laughing and actually went into action.

She wasn't the only one either. Once Shana and Minubuki noticed Suzume starting for the stage they all but dived to stop her from going on.

It was too late though.

* * *

Hoshi truly felt embarrassed.

She had been trying to do as she was told but the lyrics and her current outfit made it all too much for her. She really thought that she would rather face off against a humanoid Trion Soldier than do something like this. At least then not many people would see.

As she waited for the next part of the song she noticed someone walking onto the stage.

Misaki Suzumebachi.

Hoshi didn't have a chance to start singing again since, as she walked on, Suzume started singing the next part of the song.

The crowd seemed to start up once they saw Suzume walk onto the stage.

Suzume gave a dazzling smile to the crowd as she walked next to Hoshi with a microphone in hand and hips swaying almost erotically.

As she made it next to Hoshi she gestured for the younger girl to continue singing.

Doing as ordered, Hoshi began singing once again.

Meanwhile, Suzume started speaking into the microphone.

"I'm going to release her limiters! Is that honestly okay!?"

The crowd went even crazier once they heard this. Hoshi had no clue why but she became very wary all of a sudden.

You see, when Suzume said "limiters" she meant clothes.

By "her" she meant Hoshi.

And that's exactly what she did. Just not in the way most thought.

Suzume had gone up to Hoshi and pulled a single ribbon that was tied behind Hoshi's neck. Once that had been undone it all happened.

The ribbons that Hoshi had thought were sown together came apart and swayed with her movements. Under the ribbons was actual clothing that seemed to sparkle each time the lights hit her.

"Hoshi-chan," Suzume whispered, "move more like this. Just follow my lead."

Suzume started singing right along with Hoshi and started moving her body much more than Hoshi ever had while on the stage.

Suzume moved her hips from right to left and left to right in time with the music. If she had her long hair then it would have been moving right along with the body and swinging in a sort of beautiful-violence sort of way. Her shoulders moved just as much, making her seem like she was dancing some sort of foreign dance that was meant to captivate everyone who saw it.

Hoshi saw the movement and tried her best to copy them, but she was struggling too much with her pride right now. She had tried so hard not to be seen as the "Princess among those siblings" so it was plain to see that this was just getting rid of all of that work.

She felt a quick jab to the side and saw Suzume giving her a look that basically said, "If you don't finish this yourself then I shall honestly make sure to include you in all of my yuri doujinshi."

Giving a small nod that only Suzume could see, Hoshi tried once again to copy the moves.

This time around she was getting the hang of it. The reason was that she was focusing more on Suzume and the music than the crowd that was watching her.

She had gotten so into it that she didn't notice that she was making her own moves, or that Suzume was no longer on the stage.

As she continued singing she added more movement and raised her arm so that it would move along with her body. She moved across the stage on light feet as the ribbons that had once made up her outfit moved around as well.

The ribbons did not give off any sort of impression of a princess, like Suzume had first thought. Instead, each ribbon looked more and more like those you could see on either the Black Trigger known as Fujin or the optional Trigger by the same name.

Many agents who had seen the two Trigger by the same name could tell right away that it indeed looked like it. That just added much more appeal to the whole thing since Hoshi had quickly become known for using the weaker version of the two Fujin.

Overall she looked like a shooting star going across the pitch black night sky.

* * *

Wakamura could only stare in awe as Hoshi finished up her song. The lyrics were certainly something that suited her, and the dancing captivated him far beyond any other dance he had seen.

His glasses even started to fog up a bit.

"Good thing she's great like that. Bad thing so many guys saw her like that. I'll have to make sure to burn every last doujinshi, story, and anything else that Suzu has. Once she properly apologizes to Hoshi then I will _consider_ forgiving her for this."

Wakamura blinked a few times, bringing him back to reality.

He saw Yuki looked ready to hit something, but instead of doing that he decided to glare daggers at every guy he saw.

Thinking this was his chance, Wakamura took a step away from the tree. As he did so he noticed Mei slightly move her head and give him a small look.

He held his breath, worried that Yuki would also notice he was there.

"Alright, Yuki. Time for you to sleep. You need to keep your health up."

"But I'm- BYAH!?"

Wakamura flinched when he saw Mei land a solid punch to Yuki's stomach, knocking him out. If there was one thing Wakamura knew well it was that Mei was definitely stronger than any guy he knew.

Mei turned to Wakamura and gave a slight nod.

"Good luck, Wakamura. And don't worry. I'll make sure Yuki here doesn't end up killing you for this later."

All he could do was give a weak nod as he watched Mei carry her boyfriend away like a sack of potatoes.

He shook his head and turned around, determined to get to Hoshi.

"Sorry for the wait! Did you like our opening!?"

The sound if the crowd was overwhelming once the three girls who were the main show come on.

* * *

"W-wait! Katori-san-! Oh, I'm sorry! Katori-san, please stop pulling me! I really want to get out of this outfit!"

Katori Yōko could feel her eye twitching as she dragged Hoshi along the edge of the large crowd.

She had gone to listen to the music, along with Miura, but she instantly got annoyed once she saw Hoshi come onto the stage. She had watched the whole opening and became increasingly annoyed when she heard the lyrics.

She did know who they were for after all.

"Shut your mouth and follow me! There's a moron you have to have a talk with! I already told you this!"

All Hoshi could do was continue being dragged along, stumbling as she did so, and give quick looked back to Miura, who was following them. She hoped that he would be able to help her out by either calming Katori down or getting her free from the vice grip, but he was no help.

Miura had decided to let his captain take care of things.

* * *

One thing that he was not expecting was to see his captain dragging a certain girl by the hand and pretty much tossing said girl in his direction like she was throwing a javelin at waist height.

Wakamura was quick to react and grab Hoshi before she fell face first into the ground. He could see Miura giving him an apologetic look from his spot near Katori.

"Alright. You two idiots better start talking to each other. I'm going to be over there, listening to the concert. If I come back and you two are still like this them I swear I'll kick both of your asses."

Wakamura and Hoshi could only blink as Katori walked over to the crowd to listen to the rock song that was currently playing now.

It took another few seconds for them to realize the position they were in and move back. And as if they were in some crappy shoujo managa, the two of them made damn sure not to look at each other no matter what.

"You were nice out there."

It was Wakamura who stared the very idiotic and cliché conversation.

"Your brother is ready to pretty much kill half of the boys here. If it wasn't for Takaoto-san then I would also be in that group."

"Well, you can always leave it up to her to take Kiyo-nii down."

Completely awkward was the perfect way to explain the situation.

Since this author is running out of ideas, and he doesn't want this to be so damn cliché, Hoshi decided to make her move.

She had faced off against Trion Soldiers, was currently in a high ranked B-Rank squad for Border, was going up against two stong squads in her next match, and was also a part of a family of soldiers. She had most definitely built up enough courage to say something to the megane in front of her.

"Kiss! You aren't mad, right!? Lyrics! They were forced on me! But it was I who sang them for you!"

Words were certainly something Hoshi was bad at in the moment.

"But... But! I like you! Kiss again! Can I do it with you!"

Wakamura had pretty much lost his ability to think by this point. He couldn't be to sure of he heard her right, but no words actually came out when he tried to speak.

Meanwhile, Hoshi was having a similar issue. Deciding that every word was against her at this point, she gave up trying to speak at all.

That left them back to the absolute awkwardness.

Until...

"For the love of-!"

The two awkward idiots went wide eyed when they felt a hand grab the back of their heads and push them towards each other.

They could feel each other's lips and, after getting over the shock, actually started enjoying it.

While next to them stood Katori, hands on the back of their heads.

"You two idiots like each other. Just kiss and get this mushy crap over with. I need this crappy megane for our next match, so he can't be distracted by those feelings.

After seeing that they were starting to get into the kiss, Katori pulled her arms back and clicked her tongue.

While this was going on, Kako appeared and walked up to Katori. She gave the younger girl a sly smile and she held up a camera with once hand.

"Thank you for this. Suzume will make sure you are compensated for this later."

"Like I care. They were annoying me."

"Oh? But I thought you were the type to just give up when something annoyed you? Or may its that you care about their relationship?"

"Yeah right. I only did something about it because I know that Tsukiko will beat the crap out of the megane once he finds out. I could at least get some entertainment from that."

Kako simply nodded as she took more pictures.

* * *

And there ends this story of crap piled onto even more crap.

The author sincerely hopes you enjoyed this steaming pile of crap. Now he thinks you should find an actually _good_ story to read so you can purge yourselves of this.

Oh. But one more thing.

You must never forget...

The real hero of this story is...

Miura!


	4. Friendly Fire

**Friendly Fire**

* * *

Kotowari Takeshi was by far an odd person. He wasn't odd in the sense that he was loud, demented or even just crazy. He was odd because he did things a lot differently than most would consider normal.

Takeshi is a B-Rank Shooter who uses his Triggers in a very different way than other Shooters. He views on many things consisted of him not caring too much and he was very antisocial. He looked like the type to be a genius, but in truth he got average to below average grades. He also tended to wear clothes that were a size or two larger than what fit him.

Besides that, he is the captain of the current Kotowari Squad. After the squad's former captain had disbanded the squad it was Takeshi would had been chosen to be captain. Although that was just for formalities.

No one was really in charge of the squad as a whole.

Even so, Takeshi took his role as captain a bit more seriously than he should have.

At first he hadn't cared much about his teammates and just focused on winning. He had even gone so far as to assist in making one of his teammates and (even though he wouldn't admit it) best friend Bail Out during their first match.

That changed once the original three of the squad got a nice beating from their former captain. They had been straightened out and we're now a squad to be reckoned with.

Even so...

"Even so... I should have been switched out of the captain position. Mei-san would be far better than me. I can't even keep up with the others."

Takeshi spoke to himself as he sat at an empty table.

The tables around Takeshi seemed to be filled with others, eating and talking to each other. But the one that Takeshi was at was completely empty, minus Takeshi himself.

Some of the agents around knew Takeshi and Takeshi knew them, but that was exactly why they stayed away from him. He had apologized to many agents he had disturbed before, but it seemed that some couldn't get over it and refused to go near him.

Takeshi didn't care though.

He understood why they kept their distance from him and wasn't bothered by it.

You see, there had been a time where Takeshi "couldn't see colors". That didn't mean he was colorblind or that he had poor eyesight. What it meant was that he saw everything as dull and boring. It didn't matter what it was. He could be watching a shooting star shower or even his family killed, he wouldn't and didn't feel anything for them.

That got changed once he fought against the squad's former captain. Now he felt like there were a lot more "colors" around him that brightened everything up. Some of those things were the people around him.

He had been cold and uninterested in almost everyone he met, so it was no surprise that they started to feel the same way about him.

He has apologized to them but some still felt that way about him.

Now this is where he was, alone among people.

'I suppose I did bring this upon myself.'

Takeshi let out a small sigh as he fixed the gray scarf that always seemed to be around his neck.

"Would you mind if I sit here?"

Takeshi looked up from his phone to see a familiar glasses-wearing agent standing there.

"No. It's fine."

Mikumo Osamu was on a sort of neutral ground with Takeshi. The two had only spoken during Border's Enlistment Day and only then. Takeshi had gone to see Osamu in the hospital after the Aftokrator invasion.

During that period where Takeshi was dealing with the squad's disbandment the two hadn't even seen each other, so Mikumo didn't even know about how Takeshi was doing during that time.

That's not to say they didn't know how each other we're doing concerning the ongoing B-Rank Wars.

Both had watched each other's squad's matches in case they had ended up going against each other.

"So," started Mikumo, "I'm sure you have heard about the agreement our respective squad members made..."

"Yeah. Toby told us the day after it was made. All of us are fine with it, so there's no problems on our end."

"Right. Well, after some convincing, everyone agreed that it's fine. That's one of the things I've come over to tell you. The other thing being... I wanted to know if you want to go over some strategies. Karasuma-senpai told me that you usually talk with someone else about different strategies."

"Oh. Yeah. I usually talk to either Asano-san, Izumi-san or Nasu-senpai. We go over what would work well with and against different squads. And as for you... I... It would be fine if you were added to the list of people..."

As he spoke, Takeshi fixed his scarf so that it covered his face. He didn't look at Mikumo when he spoke and made sure that his mouth couldn't be seen from behind the scarf.

Before either of them could continue they heard a vibration and looked down at Takeshi's phone, which had been placed on the table.

Takeshi looked up at Mikumo as if to ask for permission to see what it was about.

It took a few seconds for Mikumo to understand what the look meant. When he finally did get it he gestured to the phone.

Takeshi picked up the phone and looked to see that it was a message from Kako.

 **We need someone else to join. Some others were dragged along so we have an uneven number. Can you bring someone else?**

To anyone else this may have been a bit confusing. What did they need another person for? Where would it be? Why was she going to Takeshi for this?

Takeshi simply let out a sigh through his nose before looking back at Mikumo. He looked like he was trying to sink into his seat while speaking on his usual soft and semi-quiet voice.

"Hey, Mikumo... Would you...like to join us? ... By us I mean some other Shooters. We train together at times. We usually do some target practice before going to the booths and do best two out of three with random matchups. ...Although we are only allowed to use Shooter Triggers, Radar and Shield."

"Huh? That sounds interesting. If no one would mind..."

"Okay... I'll tell them. Oh. And if you were wondering, we started this because Teikō-san from Hogo Squad thought that since Snipers do this sort of thing all the time that we could as well."

The two had gotten up and started walking, Mikumo having to follow Takeshi so that he knew where to go. During this walk Mikumo noticed that some agents would look at them before turning their eyes as if they weren't looking.

Mikumo looked over to see if Takeshi noticed this as well but saw that he was walking like nothing was going on. From time to time he would fix his scarf and turn his gaze to the ground.

Something he didn't notice though was how Takeshi seemed to blink slower each time.

Deciding to get over the small awkward atmosphere, Mikumo started up a new conversation.

"If you don't mind me asking, why do you always wear that scarf? You even made it a part of your squad's uniform. Now that I think about... Doesn't Awdry always wear his hat?"

"Yeah..."

Takeshi looked down at his scarf and began again, this time with a distant look in his eyes.

"The three of us... Me, Toby and Suzume-senpai... We had gotten something from Yuki-senpai, our former captain, as a gift. Toby was given his hat. Suzume-senpai was given a necklace. I was given this scarf... We... I wear this because it was a gift."

He could no longer say "we" when Toby had gone and given his hat to his younger brother and Suzume have the chain for her necklace to Narasaka and the music note charm hanging from it to Satori.

It was things like these that made Takeshi feel as if he was the only one in the squad who hadn't actually moved on from Tsukiko Squad's disbandment. He was the only one who continued to hold on to what their former captain had given them, as if it was the only that would keep him safe.

All he did when those thoughts came up was let out a sigh and fix his scarf.

So that's what he did.

"Anyways... Why did you bother to come up to me in the first place? It doesn't take a genius to tell that you weren't telling the whole truth before. Is there something else you wanted?"

"It's not something I want... I just saw that you looked a bit lonely and figured I could talk to you. Although that may have been a bit too presumptuous of me in the first place. You were probably alone so you could think a both your next match. Sorry for bugging you."

"...-ne..."

"Huh? Did you say something?"

"I said... It's fine... I was, as a matter of fact, just being lonely there... So thank you."

He wasn't sure of what he did, but Mikumo said nothing and just scratched his head a bit.

"You're...welcome?"

* * *

Once they reached room they were suppose to meet up at - Nasu Squad's operating room - they got ready and in their Trion bodies.

Mikumo looked at who was there and saw that everyone there really was a Shooter. Some looked rather pleased to be there while others looked like they wanted to leave as soon as possible.

Well, only Ninomiya looked like the latter.

But no one cared about what he wanted.

Looking around the training area, Mikumo noticed something about the others standing around.

"This is suppose to be like target practice, right? I would have thought that some Gunners would want to join in."

"They did. At first."

The two Shooters of the same age turned to the one speaking and saw that it was the captain of the #6 A-Rank squad, Kako Nozomi.

"So you brought Mikumo-kun with you, huh. Of course there's nothing wrong with that. Although it certainly is nice to see you have made friends with someone else."

"Mikumo, this is #6 captain, Kako Nozomi-san."

"Hello."

Mikumo gave a bow and greeting in return. When he looked at the other Shooters he could see that a lot of them were familiar. Kako was not the only one, although Mikumo only knew her from others' talking and when Kuga had almost been "kidnapped" by her.

Seeing that Takeshi was his usual calm and collected (if not a bit relaxed) self, Mikumo relaxed his shoulders and spoke up to voice a question.

"Excuse me, Kako-san, but what did you mean by 'at first'?"

"What I mean is that multiple Gunners had joined at first to improve themselves. They had stopped coming by, though, since they 'didn't want to hit by any stray shots'. You see, some of us need more work on our aim, that's why we do this. Not only that, some of us let out some stress by firing at each other."

Mikumo looked towards Takeshi to see that he was, once again, fixing his scarf and looking away, as if he was trying to play innocence. He could only assume that meant Takeshi was one of the people who really needed to improve their aim; and therefore one of the reason why Gunners never came by anymore.

"Well, moving that topic aside, welcome, Mikumo-kun. As a warning, you should make sure you are on your toes so that you don't get hit with any shots that may happen to be headed your way."

"Thank you...?"

* * *

Mikumo was completely amazed.

Whether that was a good thing or not was still up in the air for him.

Before and right after the target practice was done, Mikumo conversed with some of the others there. Izumi and Nasu talked to him about this and that while Mizukami made some comments and talked to him a bit as well.

During the actual practice he started to realize exactly what Kako had been talking about.

For one reason or another, Kako and Ninomiya would "accidentally" lose track of a shot that was aimed at the other.

Then there were the ones who looked like they doing something else completely.

Mizukami and a small boy from the new branch he had heard about looked like they were just tossing their shots around, although they still got hits.

The next type of people there seemed to only be Takeshi. He looked like he was having a hard time actually getting anything besides the outter ring of the targets. It seemed he was a terrible shot without his laser-like beams.

Then there were the ones who were doing it normally. Everyone else who didn't fall into the other categories were in this one. Mikumo himself was one of these people.

One other things he noticed was that some people had different looking ways of shooting. He had noticed some of them during the B-Rank wars. Once they were done with practice, he had asked Takeshi about it.

Takeshi had told him that he liked to separate them in different categories. Nasu, Eri and Ninomiya were sharp and tactful, Kako and Mizukami were more free form, and Izumi was the bomb everything around type. When asked about his own, Takeshi had said that since he used a completely different type of the Shooter Triggers that he was in no category.

Then he went and told Mikumo that his was the basic type.

"Although that isn't really a bad thing," he had added right after.

Once that was done they were going to go to the booths for their random matchups. Although that would not start for another half hour due to some of the agents having things they needed to get done before that,

Now here they were, standing by the booths with multiple agents either going into the booths, walking around or just chatting with others.

"If you don't mind, what is your record like with other agents?"

"Nothing special. I don't really go around picking fights like Toby does. I only do solo matches when I feel it's necessary or when someone else I'm interested in asks. I just don't...find a reason...to do multiple...matches..."

Mikumo was quick to notice the small pauses in Takeshi words. He wanted to ask what it was about, but he did not want to seem rude, so he kept his mouth shut.

Takeshi noticed that the atmosphere around the two of them started to grow thick and heavy. He looked down and started fixing his scarf, making sure not to see the four-eyes.

Trying to figure out how to fill in the silence, Takeshi started thinking about the possible things they could talk about. Different strategies and plans seemed to be his go-to conversation starter, but he figured that would not be a normal or okay thing to start with.

He went with Plan B.

"...friends..."

Hearing the feint word, Mikumo looked over with a slightly raised eyebrow.

"I'm sorry? What did you say?"

That seemed to be the wrong answer since Takeshi fixed his scarf again before speaking a little louder.

"How do you...make so many...friends...?"

"Eh? Do I really have that many? I don't think I have too many. ...Uh... Why are you looking at me like I just told a big fat lie? Fixing your scarf kinda makes me feel like you want to move away from the subject you just brought up!"

"Anyways..."

"Please don't just move on like that!"

Takeshi ignored the plead from Mikumo and continued without a care.

"How do you make...friends?"

Seeing that there was no point in arguing, Mikumo decided to just go along with it with a sigh.

"Well... You... Uh... Ah! Aren't you friends with Awdry and your squad?"

"Toby is the team's pet."

 _Wow... He said that with such a straight face that I really can't tell if he's joking or not..._

"And as for the others... I'm...not sure if 'friends' would be the correct word... Sorry."

"No need to apologize. Then how about Karasuma-senpai? You seem friendly with him."

"Torimaru-senpai just has a sense of humor I can synch up with. Overall we're still just fellow Border agents. Besides, I don't really go to Tamakoma much. At least not alone... It's usually when someone else asks if I want to go with them."

Mikumo noticed that with every pause Takeshi would fix his scarf a bit or look down.

This was far different than the first time he had met the special Shooter. At first it was easy to tell that Takeshi did hit care much for most things and thought rather highly of himself.

Now...

 _He seems like a shy child now. What happened from then to now?_

Then it hit him.

The disbandment.

He had heard the things said once the former Tsukiko Squad had disbanded. The logs from the first few B-Rank wars also proved that the disbandment may have been a bad idea on the former captain's part.

But it was very different now.

Now the newly formed Kotowari Squad was working as good, if not better, as before.

They had a new squad member and took back their position in the top tier of B-Ranks.

They were one of the squads that Mikumo was rather worried to go against.

Although he was not afraid in the slightest.

Reining his thoughts back in, Mikumo started thinking about what to say to this new shy child Takeshi.

 _What could I really say to him at this point? Change the topic? No, no, no. He already did that, somewhat, so it might seem like I'm copying him. Besides, I don't think I could do that so smoothly with him._

Letting out a small hum, Mikumo nodded his head a bit before turning back to Takeshi.

"I see you as a friend."

"Huh!?"

Mikumo felt an odd sense of pride at seeing that his comment was enough to surprise his fellow Shooter. Although it also gave him a bit of pity for the boy to be so shocked.

"Yeah. I mean, for one, you were kind when we first met and skipped passed using 'san' or even 'kun'. Then there's today. I may have just been there at the time, but you had asked me if I wanted to join that joint Shooter practice; which was something I didn't even know was a thing. So, yeah, I see you as a friend."

"I see..."

"And to answer your actual question: that's also how you make friends. You're kind to them and show you care about them. Even having some sort of back-and-forth, like you do with Awdry, is a sign of friendship. Actual arguments are also something that happens from time-to-time, but as long as neither of you let it hang around for too long then you're fine."

Takeshi looked nodded his head a few times before walking a few steps forward.

Mikumo titled his head a bit when he saw Takeshi stop right in front of him.

"Thank you very much, Shishou."

"Shi-Shishou!? Eh? Where did that come from?"

Mikumo had to take a step back from shock as Takeshi continued to give a deep bow in front of him, gaining some stare and whispers.

He tried to ignore the others around them and wait for Takeshi to stand back up.

"Like you said, we're passed the 'san' and even 'kun' part of this, going to 'sama' would be like taking five steps back."

"Alright... But why 'Shishou'?"

"That should be obvious. You have helped me out quite a bit in such a short amount of time. Shishou is the only thing that seems to be right to call you, Shishou."

"I... I guess?"

Having been satisfied with that answer, Takeshi nodded his head.

Everyone who had been watching the two could feel the flowery atmosphere around the two and _swear_ that they saw some flowers suddenly bloom around the two of them.

Some of the girls around even pulled out their phones and took quick pictures, muttering something about a queen hornet and prizes.

There were also some who had once fell victim to Takeshi's blunt words and could not get over them. Those people started walking forward to warn the four-eyes, but were quickly tackled by either a brown blur or a white blur.

No one questioned that.

Back with the two who had a flowery atmosphere around them, they started up a new conversation.

Their conversation was more light their the previous one, but they both answered honestly and seriously.

Takeshi fixed his scarf once more, but is time to pull it away from his mouth instead of putting it up and covering his mouth.

"It's true that an emblem that like would look good, but don't you think it would also take away from the meaning behind it?"

"That's true... Speaking of which, I feel like any emblem your squad would have would have some sort of meaning like 'We will save you from anything!', or something close to that."

"Eh? Why would you think that?"

"Just a feeling."

"We aren't that noble or heroic, though. Sorry."

"Others would say otherwise. That second invasion is a point they would bring up to counter you."

"I was doing that more to save my teammate than anything else."

"But that means you take comradery very seriously, which is what they would look for. Not to mention you are fine with helping others out so readily. Your arguments would fall flat before they even leave your mouth."

"You think so?"

"Yes."

How their conversations move so smoothly and at a fast pace was something an outsider may not know. For the two of them, though, it seemed rather easily now that they were speaking easily to each other.

It provided even more material for some of the girls watching with their phones out.

"So, then, how about-"

"Kotowari!"

"Byff!?"

Takeshi lunged forward once a body slammed into his own from behind. It it wasn't for the fact that Mikumo, who had been in front of him and stuck his arms out to help, was there then the two body would have quickly fallen to the ground.

Takeshi turned his head to see a boy with his hair sticking up in the front give a pout as he started to poke his cheek.

"Hey, hey, Kotowari, do you know where Toby is? I haven't seen him around lately and I really wanna go a few rounds with him. I had asked around but no one knows where he is. And you're the only member of his squad who I can find right now."

"I don't know where he is, Koarai-san. Could you please get off of me now? It's taking all of my leg strength to hold us up, and Shishou looks like his arms are about to give out as well."

Looking down them forward, Koarai could see at Takeshi's legs and Mikumo's arms were shaking.

Before he could move, though, someone came up from behind and pulled him back.

Having lost the wait on his back, Takeshi let out a small sigh with Mikumo doing the same a few seconds after.

"Don't just jump onto people's backs like that. You'll make them fall."

"Toby does that all the time and he's only broken other people's bones three times. And he really goes at it with his running start."

"If I remember correctly, aren't you the reason for the first two times bones were broken? Yeah. The first was because you actually reacted to him and both of you ended up with broken bones. The second time was because you warned the other person beforehand, making them turn at the wrong time."

"Those were both accidents! And at least the first one was me who got hurt!"

"And Awdry."

"It's fine," Takeshi said. "He was rather happy to show off his cast, so that was fine."

"See? Something good came out of it!"

"But he didn't have his family's money at the time, so Yuki-senpai had to pay for him."

"And something bad still came out of it."

Mikumo watched Takeshi and the two member of Azuma Squad talk and noticed the issue with the former.

It was not too hard to see that Takeshi spoke formally with others instead of casually like with Mikumo a minute ago. Although he was still a bit surprised at how smoothly he spoke.

"Anyways, you should say you're sorry. To both of them."

"Sorry about tackling you like that."

Takeshi and Mikumo nodded their heads at the same time, getting a sigh from Okudera.

"Anyways! Since I can't find Toby anywhere, you wanna go a few rounds!?"

"No. That's-"

"Right! Let's go then!"

Before anyone could get a word in to voice their objections, Koarai grabbed Takeshi's wrist and started dragging him towards some free booths.

Takeshi tried to say something but was too focused on keeping his balance. Being forced into fights was something Toby had caused at times, but he never pulled Takeshi around since he knew that the Shooter was terrible with keeping up with fast paced people.

Okudera and Mikumo could only watch as this happened.

They followed after a few seconds.

* * *

As he waited in the room, Takeshi wondered why exactly Koarai decided to fight him. Neither of them had gone against each other, so there was no such thing as a rivalry between them. Even in the B-Rank Wars, they never fought each other.

Takeshi fixed his scarf as he moved over to the computer.

"Koarai-san, why do you want to fight me? I could just message Toby and see where he is at."

 _"Yeah, I know. But, we've only gone up against you once in the B-Rank Wars and you were going at it with Azuma-san. I wanna have a go at you too! Besides, I could fight Toby at any time. You're more difficult to convince when it comes to matches."_

Takeshi could not deny that last part. He was not much of a fan for one-on-one matches.

"...Alright. Then let's both...give it our all...?"

 _"Yeah! No holding back!"_

Words like those were said by people like Toby and Koarai. People like Takeshi would stay quiet and observe their opponent, so him actually saying something like that felt a bit weird on his tongue.

 _Regardless... I mean those words. I'm sure we would both feel insulted if the other didn't go all out. But with my lasers I should be fine._

Nodding to himself, Takeshi transported into the virtual city.

The city was a rather simple one with multiple lower-roof houses and only a handful of medium-sized open spaces. It would have been a bit difficult for a normal Shooter to fight in this kind of area with a lot of obstacles while an Attacker would have an easier time, but Takeshi was no normal Shooter.

 _I can just blast away anything obstacle. If I need to, I'll just level the area so Koarai-san doesn't have any hiding spots._

Nodding to himself, Takeshi started to move out.

He had not fought against either of the Attackers belonging to Azuma Squad, but he had seen the logs so that he would be ready should they end up facing off against each other. This did not mean he knew exactly how Koarai or Okudera moved, but he was more prepared than others would expect.

 _He can't be as jumpy as Toby, though. That SE is trouble enough. Well, I just need to keep an eye out so that he-_

Takeshi stopped his train of thought as he noticed something from the corner of his eye.

He was quick enough to jump back and prepare his attack.

"Crap!"

Koarai, who had his body leaning forward due to his failed attack, tried to use his right leg to turn his body to the side so that he could dodge.

He could see the Trion spheres appear by Takeshi's head and was ready to defend.

"Asteroid."

To both their shock, instead of Trion-made, laser-like beams you would normally see in Sci-Fi movies multiple shots were fired like multiple guns bring fired at the same time.

It took Takeshi a few seconds to register exactly what was happening before he started to panic a bit.

 _If these are regular shots then... Can I quite!? Will he let me quite so that I can change that!? But won't that be rude to him? I don't want him to start thinking like those other people... It's taking time to just apologize to the ones I was rude too... Having another person on the list isn't good!_

While Takeshi was freaking out on the inside, while showing it on the outside, Koarai got over his momentary shock and rushed forward once more.

"Are you trying something new? You scared me there for a second."

Takeshi snapped out of his thoughts at being spoken to.

He saw the attack coming and brought up a Shield to block the next few sword strikes.

It was one attack after another with only the single Shield to defend Takeshi. With each hit the barrier started to crack before Takeshi had to fix it or create a new one.

He continued to take a few steps back with each strike, intending to get away.

Teleport was the first thing that came to mind, but there was a major issue with that.

 _He's faced Toby before so he knows how we use Teleport. He's keeping track of where my eyes are looking so he could quickly follow. Even if I move them and try to just teleport at random he'll have an easier time in turning around and chasing than I would in getting away._

Disregarding the distance Takeshi would he able to teleport, he would have to figure out where exactly he teleported to if he did it at random. That would take a few seconds, and in those few seconds Koarai would be able to turn around to twist his body and head in that direction.

He could always just continue to randomly teleport to get away, but that would not last long when his opponent had Grasshopper.

 _I can't do this... My shots miss more than 75% of the time... And that's with unmoving targets! He won't just stand there and let me hit him!_

"Hey, hey, why aren't you attacking? Oh! Are you switching your position since you're captain?"

Koarai may not have intended for how words to sound like taunts, but that was how it sounded to Takeshi.

Takeshi narrowed his eyes a bit before sticking his arm out a bit.

A sphere of Trion appeared at his side before splitting apart into small spheres, making them seem more like stars in the night sky than anything else.

 _Meteora!_

The spheres resembling stars in the night sky sped forward towards Koarai.

"Oh no!"

Koarai used Grasshopper to move around and dodge the explosive shots.

Once the shots hit either the ground or one of the houses Koarai moved forward once more, intending to land a decisive hit. Now that he knew Takeshi was shooting regular shots he was less worried about getting closer.

"Hey, seriously, are you trying something new? Is this something captains usually go through?"

Takeshi could feel his eyebrow twitch a bit as he brought up another Shield for the next round of attacks.

 _Why is he asking is many questions during a fight? I feel like Toby is rubbing off on him in a bad way. Regardless, why does he keep assuming that just because I'm a captain that I'm changing how I fight? Maybe because of Shishou?_

Something new for Takeshi was how he got frustrated at simple thoughts and actions like these.

Before he would have never given a second though to what someone like Koarai says, but how he could feel an itch in his body that made him feel uncomfortable, yet also excitedly jumpy. It got him a bit mad since he could not figure out what that itch was.

Being blunt and mostly uncaring about most things was the obvious reason as to why he was not sure how to get rid of the irritating itch on his body. Still, he figured it was best that he gets use to these kinds of feelings so he could properly understand the people he apologizes to.

 _Putting that aside..._

There was something else that Takeshi felt as he continued to block the attacks from Koarai.

 _This has to be..._

It was a simple feeling that Toby would usually feel.

 _Excitement for a fight... Maybe? With how many times Toby tries to explain it when he's done fighting I think I understand how you're suppose to feel when you're excited for a fight or during a fight. I guess this is it?_

For someone like Takeshi, someone who seems more like an innocent child now compared to before, this was the best reasoning he could come up with.

That was a good enough reason for him.

He still did not like the fact he could not use his usual laser-like beams, but that did not mean he could not win a fight.

His aim was just below average, so that meant he had to be more tactful in his fighting than usual.

 _Is that really a bad thing? Aren't captain's suppose to come up with multiple plans and backup plans to make sure their squad wins? If so..._

A sphere of Trion appear next to Takeshi before splitting into smaller spheres and spreading out to his left and right.

Koarai moved back, thinking that he was going to get hit.

 _I was right..._

Instead of moving forward, the small spheres around Takeshi flew into the ground.

Multiple explosions went off, sending dust and debris into the air and impairing the vision of both fighters.

Takeshi did not spend time trying to find Koarai and instead ran to the side before jumping onto one of the buildings. He started to run across and hop over to the next buildings while small spheres of Trion appeared around him like shining stars at night.

 _Viper on the level of Nasu-senpai and Izumi-san requires "imagination", "objectivity", and "spacial awareness". Well, that sucks. The others are much better at imagining on the spot while I'm stuck being a lazy loser who refuses to do his homework._

He let out a sigh.

 _I suppose I just have to imagine how they will move. Maybe I should ask Nasu-senpai or Asano-san what they do in times like these to get their shots to go the way they want._

After he had decided to actually ask for help later on, Takeshi got ready to fire.

He slid on the tiled roof of the building he was on and let loose his barrage of Viper. The target of the shots was in plain sight.

Koarai seemed to notice the shots headed for him and used Grasshopper to move away and escape.

 _I didn't follow his movements fast enough. Those shots were wasted and I couldn't even move them from the spot I was focusing on._

Takeshi clicked his tongue as he began to run once more.

.

Koarai gave chase by using Grasshopper to move around the Viper shots while also getting in closer.

 _Just a bit more..._

He could only grin as he continued to enjoy the fight.

This kind of fight way far different from his close range fights with Toby. The opponent this time obviously needed some work, but he made up for it by knowing how to use what he had.

At this point it was plain to see that the person who landed the next hit would gain a major advantage, if not win altogether.

Koarai wanted to make sure he would be the winner.

He had yet to beat Toby in a one-on-one match, but if he could win against the captain then that would be fine as well.

There was only one issue with that.

 _He has his shots ready with his left and a Shield ready at his right. Getting passed that will take more work. Toby wasn't lying when he said that Kotowari was a strong captain._

Most people who knew either Toby or Takeshi knew how the two had their back-and-forth, sometimes too well. They were not as bad as Yuki and Ninomiya, or even Suzume and Narasaka, it was easy to tell that it was friendly banter between the two.

Something else that others could tell was how much respect the two had for each other.

It may not seem like that at first glance, but the ones who knew the two of them also knew that they both thought highly of each other.

 _"Besides Mei, no one else can fill the captain spot but Takeshi."_

 _"The dog is the only one I am willing to give the title of 'Ace' to."_

These words were all that needed to be said for someone to know how much they trusted each other. After their former squad captai and ace had disbanded the squad this meant a lot to the both of them.

Koarai started to see exactly why the American Attacker had such respect for his current captain.

 _That makes me want to win even more!_

With that thought in mind, Koarai rushed forward into the smoke that had been created by Takeshi as a smokescreen.

He knew that it was risky, but this was something he would risk.

It wasn't something major like the B-Rank Wars, but it still felt like an important battle.

Feeling like this attack would finish the match, Koarai swing his blade in one quick and swift motion.

His blade connected.

 _Wait..._

Feeling his attack connect had made him excited. The issue was that...

 _This feeling doesn't feel like I cut a body. It feels like I cut..._

He saw what he cut through the smoke.

A scarf.

"Crap!"

Turning around, Koarai noticed that it was too late at this point.

Takeshi was at point-blank range and bent forward in front of him with a sphere of Trion near him.

"Viper!"

Before Koarai could figure out how to defend the shots come forward.

The shotsshot through his body and flew into the air.

They didn't quit there in the slightest. They had turned around in the air and shot through him from his sides and above him, hitting the ground to finish it off.

 **Bail Out.**

* * *

The match was over with Takeshi being the winner.

All he did with this win was hold his scarf to his mouth, expressionless and unmoving.

Things were definitely against him seeing as he needed to fight using a regular Trigger and regular shots.

"...-"

 _"That was fun!"_

Letting out a sigh through his nose, Takeshi stood up and moved over to the computer in the room.

 _"Hey, Kotowari, do you wanna go another-"_

 _"That's enough."_

 _"Wha-!? Hey! Hold on!"_

Takeshi said nothing and simply turned to leave the room.

He calmly closed the door and walked over to where he could see Okudera standing with his arms crossed with Koarai standing next to him, rubbing his head.

Before any of them could say anything, Okudera cleared his throat.

Koarai muttered something under his breath then turned to Takeshi to give a bow.

"I'm sorry for forcing you into that fight. But that was fun, wasn't it!?"

Takeshi glanced over at the sighing Okudera and blank faced Mikumo.

He turned back to Koarai afterwards.

"Yeah. Thank you for that fight, Koarai-san."

"Hm~ Hm~..."

"...Is something wrong?"

"Not sure... It just...sounds odd to hear you sound so formal when speaking. I'm use to hearing you speak so informally with Toby and others."

"...Sorry..."

"No, no. No reason to be sorry. I was just saying that it's a bit...off. I guess."

"I could be less formal. If you would like."

"Sure! I don't really mind!"

"Thanks for the match, Koala-senpai."

"Such a quick switch! Have you done this kind if thing before!?"

Being use to this kind of thing, Okudera shook his head and stepped forward.

Mikumo decided to take a spot next to Takeshi.

"Anyways. We have duty later, but I want to have a match with you too, Kotowari. If you want to join as well, Mikumo, that's fine. Someone would need to keep an eye on this guy."

As he spoke, Okudera turned his attention from Takeshi to Mikumo before nodding his head towards Koarai.

Takeshi nodded his head.

Mikumo just seemed a bit confused, but said nothing about it.

Koarai got in front of his teammate and spoke to the two as he started getting pulled away by Okudera.

"Next time bring Toby and Kuga! That way we can all have some fun! See ya guys later then!"

The two Shooters could on wave their hands as they gave blank looks at the two leaving.

Neither of them say anything and just start walking away.

After a few feet of walking they start up another conversation.

"That really was a nice battle."

"..."

"By the way... You just made two more friends. At least from what I saw."

"..."

"That's another way to make friends. That's how Kuga makes friends too. I'm sure Awdry is the same way."

Takeshi could only nod as he fixed his scarf.

He said nothing, but it was obvious to Mikumo that he appreciate his words.

Looking at his phone, Mikumo saw the time and gave a small hum.

"Sorry, but I need to get going."

"Okay. Sorry for keeping you."

"No need to apolo-"

"TAKESHI!"

A brown blur had suddenly come from the side and tackled Takeshi to the ground.

It took a few seconds for Mikumo to realize what had happened and quickly turned to see if his fellow Shooter was okay.

Before he could ask anything, a white blur come up from behind him while yelling,

"OSAMU!"

Everyone around them only spared a small glance at the two who had been tackled to the ground by a brown and white blur respectively. They already knew what was going on.

After regaining his thoughts, Mikumo felt something under him. His was somewhat soft and definitely smaller than him. He opened his eyes to see his albino teammate laying under him, duck face up.

"Kuga!?"

It didn't take more than a few second for Mikumo to stand up and help his teammate up.

He turned to Takeshi and saw that the Shooter was dusting himself off while Toby jumped up with a smile on his face.

"What were you two thinking!?"

"Toby was teaching me his super special technique that has won him over a hundred battles."

"Yup, yup! Yuma here is a fast learner, so I thought it would be fun to teach it to him. It can even take out big players like Kei and Jun! But I still need a way to get someone like Reiji down... Also, you need to remember, Yuma, not to use it on a girl. Unless they're ones like Ai or Kirie. If they're like Akane or Chika then just run up to them and stop before reaching them."

"Right! I will remember that!"

"What are they even talking about...!?"

Takeshi let out a sigh and shook his head.

"It's best you don't try and understand them."

"Kuga, Awdry, I don't think you should do that to anyone. We were in our Trion bodies, so we were fine, but you don't know if others are at times."

"What are you talking about? Takeshi isn't in his Trion body."

Mikumo looked over and saw that it was true.

He also noticed that there was bit a single scratch on the scarf wearing boy either.

 _He knew that Kotowari wasn't in a Trion body and still did that!?_

"It's fine, Shishou. This idiot actually knows what he's doing. He's messed up when he first started, but no one really gets hurt when he does it now."

"Yeah. We knew you were in a Trion body, so that's why I let Yuma do it. I've practiced to the point of knowing how to move my body with the other person's so that they don't get hurt. My body is actually really sturdy, so I'm fine with rolling on the floor for a good mile or so."

"I think something's wrong with you at that point..."

"Anyways..."

"Right! We should be going."

Mikumo turned around and started walking away with Kuga right behind him. Both were aging back at the Attacker and Shooter of the other squad.

Toby waved back with a smile while yelling out to Kuga that they would practice later on.

Takeshi gave his own wave while holding up his scarf to his mouth.

Once the other two were far enough, Toby grinned and started poking at Takeshi's cheek.

"So~ How was your day~? Did anything particular happen today~?"

"Please stop talking like that. If someone gets that recorded then Suzume-senpai will be making even more doujinshi out of us again."

"Oh, I'm sorry, (darling~). I'll try and keep my voice down! We wouldn't want others to hear us, right!?"

"I hate you."

"Yeah, yeah. Glad to see you too."

Takeshi gave a small punch before walking away.

Toby smiled as he stood back for a few seconds.

His younger brother had to leave with their parents only a few days ago. He missed the younger boy a lot, but knew that it was better if he went with their parents. There was no way he could take care of both of them as well as Takeshi.

Seeing Takeshi happily talking to others like the two from Azuma Squad and Mikumo made Toby get his brotherly feelings back. He would miss Stepney, but knew that Takeshi and the rest if the squad was just as important.

Letting out a small laugh, Toby walked forward while humming a small tune.

It was nice to have people like these in his life. People to care for, regardless of it they wanted to he cared for or not.

He knew that Takeshi felt the same way.

 _He's growing up right before my eyes. Guess I can start teasing him more about it. Maybe~_


	5. Dancing Beasts

**Dancing Beasts**

* * *

Destruction and panic filled the entire area.

In one of the main halls of Border there were multiple things broken and unconscious agents laying around as if they had been carelessly tossed aside after they had been used.

A group of A-Rank and B-Rank agents stood, cornering a wild beast.

To them it seemed like they were facing off against the king of beasts.

That was wrong.

"Oh my~ Who could ever predict that Fuji would react in such a way~"

A woman wearing almost nothing stood off to the side, watching as the agents continued to move forward in order to catch the beast.

In reality, this woman was the true king of the beasts who gladly danced atop the summit of everything.

The one she was watching getting trapped seemed more like a small cub than anything else.

"Kushi-nee, Akasora-saaaaa~~n said you should stop causing these kinds of prooooo~~blems around the base."

"That old man simply can't see how fucking fun this kind of thing is. Fuji isn't even a part of our branch, so he shouldn't be worrying about such a retard thing like this."

While the king of beasts let out a laugh, the elegant beast next to her could only yawn and rub his eyes.

Unlike the boisterous woman who stood tall and grinned like a crazy person, the shrunken boy slouched where he stood while trying his best to keep yawns from coming out. The woman's eyes also seemed to have a nice mischievous glint to them while the boy's eyes had dark circles and bags around his.

These two beasts were the oldest and second youngest children from the family of soldiers.

They had both come back to Mikado City after the Aftokrator Invasion had happened and were quickly instated as Yagura Branch members.

They had not been able to show what they could do in the latest invasion, but their positions were not something they joked about.

Taiyōko Kushikage had been able to go toe-to-toe with Tachikawa Kei, Border's #1 solo agent and end things in a draw with him. Even the great Takaoto Mei could not best her in a single battle.

Next to that was Taiyōko Mukuro, who had beaten Hatohara Minoru, an A-Rank that was able to keep up with others like Tachikawa and Miwa.

The two were unranked agents, but that meant nothing to them since they already knew just how good they were.

"Well, I've gotten pretty bored with this by now."

"You're the one who caused this panic and you're the one who got tired of it first."

"Your point?"

"Nothing. I was just stating a fact."

"By the way, don't you have to train that dog from Kiyoshi's former team? You promised him you would after all~"

"Please don't remind me of that guy. He's way too energetic for me to handle. I could never get comfortable around him."

"You can't get comfortable around most people."

Mukuro said nothing and just continued to follow his older sister.

It wasn't a known fact, but it wasn't hard to tell that Mukuro had insomnia. He hardly got much sleep' if any at all.

The few times he had been able to actually sleep without one of his older siblings knocking him out was because he was around someone he felt comfortable with.

The number of people who were in that category could easily be counted on one hand.

"You have to admit that the lil' pup is kinda like our lovely piece of crap brother."

"I wouldn't insult Kiyo-nii by comparing that mutt to him."

"You're right. If anything... The lil' pup is more like _you._ "

"..."

"Aw~ Don't give me that look~ Actually, this is the first time you've given me that kind of look~ Aw~ My other lil' bro is growin' up as well~ Isn't that just the cutest thing ever~!"

Mukuro gave a small huff before letting out a yawn.

Even though she was joking around, Kushikage was a bit amazed that Mukuro would go as far as changing his expression to show his dislike for being compared to Toby.

"You really want to say, 'How do you figure?', right~? You can't, though, because you're sooooo smart~~ You've already figured out exactly how you two are so similar, right~?"

"Kushi-nee... Please stop."

"I'm just sayin'~ You both learn so quickly, and even in the middle of a fight as well~ No wonder our lovely piece of crab brother went to you for help~ He also saw how similar you two are~ Wait... Doesn't that mean he thinks that you and Mino-tan are similar~ He _did_ ask both of you to help the lil' pup~"

"Kushi-nee, I said please...!"

"Oh~ You actually raised your voice at me~"

Getting fed up with being teased, Mukuro started walking in the opposite direction from his sister.

It was a rare thing for him to get teased that much by her, so he let it go a few minutes after leaving.

He was the one who tended to follow what his two older siblings did by supporting them however he could.

Kushikage was the one he mostly helped since his older brother didn't want to be around him too much.

The more he thought about it the more his mind started to wonder off in a random direction, mirroring his feet at the moment.

Both he and Kushikage had been subjected to standby at the Yagura Branch office since they had been back. Only a few times were the two allowed to actually go out and do something. Even defense duty was off limits to them.

It was understandable to Mukuro.

His older sister would go about doing as she pleased, so that was why she was always kept away from others as much as possible.

He, on the other hand, was nowhere near as destructive as his older brother or as interested in other things as his older sister. He just never wanted to do anything.

 _Can I really be blamed? There are a lot of others who can do it better than me._

Also,

"This whole things with Neighbors and Border really tires me out. It doesn't even interest me in the slightest."

"Then why did you join?"

Mukuro, at reaching a split in the hallway, slightly tilted his head and gave the person who had spoken a dull look.

"Because my siblings were doing it."

It took a few seconds but Mukuro recognized the person he was speaking too. It took him another few seconds to remember the name of the person.

 _Tsuji Shinnosuke. Ninomiya Squad's Attacker. Good at supporting others. Terrible with women. A_ _beast lurking in jet-black darkness. With a suit to match._

"We all have reason for joining, but as you can tell, mine isn't something particularly noble or just. Judge me if you will, but that means nothing to me. You will just be waisting you ability to think on something pointless."

As he finished talking, he let out a yawn and covered it up with his hand.

From the corner of his eye he could see that Tsuji was trying to hold in a yawn of his own.

 _Illnesses can spread through contact with others or through the air when a person coughs or sneezes. Yawns can be spread by simply mentioning them. Seeing and hearing them really make a person want to do the same. Even just thinking about them makes you sigh or yawn._

That fact had been something that was imbedded into his head from all the times he had yawned with others around him doing the same thing.

Tsuji seemed to be no different from others in that regard.

As if seeing the former A-Rank hold back a yawn was a sign for him to leave, Mukuro started walking in the opposite direction Tsuji had come from.

"Have a nice day, I suppose."

"Hold on... Please."

Turning around, Mukuro saw that Tsuji was looking at him.

For someone like Mukuro, who was use to observing everyone and everything around him, it was easy to tell that Tsuji was a bit tense and his eyebrows were slightly knitted.

"Your reason doesn't make sense. Joining in one thing, but aren't you an A-Rank? Following them that far is a bit much. -"

"'Simply being a part of Border would be enough, right? Or are you taking your position lightly?' That's the rest of what you want to say."

There it was again.

The first time them had met, Tsuji had gotten the shivers when around this boy and did not know why that was. It was only after he had left that the former A-Rank understood why that was.

It was like he had been looking at himself.

He wasn't too sure how, but he felt like the boy in front of him mirrored him in some way.

 _A Side Effect?_

"I don't have a Side Effect."

Tsuji jumped a bit.

"And before you think it, I didn't read your mind or anything. I'm not like that little girl from before. It's just written all over your face. You are easy to read. And that's boring."

Tsuji was not someone who expressed much emotion most of the time. He was composed and always kept his cool, unless with a girl.

Having Mukuro say that he was easy to read made him want to take a bit of a step back.

But that would mean the other boy had won.

Not backing down, Tsuji actually took a step forward.

"And as for my answer... It's the same as before. Because my siblings became A-Rank. That is all."

"Don't you think you should join for your own reason? That sounds more like you just want to follow someone and no have to do it yourself. It also sounds a bit lazy."

"That's because I'm a lazy person who wants to follow his siblings. Why bother with others when I know my siblings will be there for me to follow? If they ignore me then that's fine. If they tell me to stop following them then there will be problems."

" _Where are they now_?"

"..."

That single question seemed to stop Mukuro for a bit.

He opened and closed his mouth at least three times before letting out a tired sigh, making Tsuji copy it.

Whether the question was meant to be literal or to get Mukuro thinking was something that may never be know.

What was known was that Mukuro was have a bit of difficultly figuring the answer out to that.

He knew that currently his younger sister was with her team, his older sister was probably causing some mayhem somewhere, and his older brother was at the branch office, resting.

That was the simple, plain, and safe answer.

It just didn't feel right.

As if wanting to push how far he could take this, Tsuji took another step forward and continued to speak.

"You follow them without much thought about it, but what do they think about it?"

"They don't care much about me following them. Soooo~ what?"

Tsuji had to hold back a yawn.

"Why follow people who don't care then?"

"It's not that they don't care about me, it's that they don't care about me following them. Were you not listening to me?"

Another step forward.

"If yours someone who follows others and others don't care about you following them then does that mean they don't care about you?"

Mukuro puffed out his cheeks a bit.

He was always tired and hardly felt other things. It was mostly due to him being uninterested by most things.

He was getting mad now.

That alone made him more mad, which continued to add fuel to the fire.

 _That's different..._

Tsuji felt a bit of pride at no longer seeing what felt like a reflection of himself and more anger from the other boy.

He didn't really care what it was, as long as he didn't see that reflection.

"I thought you were a support agent...! You're using unfair tactics to get me mad...!"

"I'm just saying what you might need to hear. Nothing more and nothing less."

By this point the lurking beast stared down at the elegant beast and noticed that he would be roughly three inches taller than Mukuro if he was standing up straight instead of slouching.

This odd debate was not something that either one had expected to occur when they had started the day, but here they were, staring at each. They were just waiting for the other to crack.

Tsuji was currently winning.

He had managed to get the upper hand on the siblings who was called a genius among genius'. That alone was something amazing.

 _He's usually tired from insomnia so he might no actually be thinking all the way. I really don't want to see what he's like when he's not tired and actually has energy..._

The thought of a mix between the other three siblings and his own squad came to mind.

 _Really don't want to see that..._

"I'm leaving...!"

 _Now that's just childish..._

Tsuji watched as Mukuro stomped his foot on the ground like a child.

He figured that the other boy would follow through by walking away.

Instead...

"..."

"Eh...? Huh!? W-wait! Please don't just fall like that! How am I suppose to react to something like this just happening when you were about to storm away like a child!? I wasn't going to tell anyone about it!"

One of the times Tsuji lost his composure.

It was fair on his part. He really did not expect for Mukuro to just fall forward and not get back up after a few seconds.

Once a minute went by Tsuji could easily tell that the younger one was asleep from his light breathing and steady raise and fall of his chest.

"Talk about unfair..."

As soon as those words left his mouth, he heard steps down the hall.

He quickly looked around for the footsteps while calmly lifting Mukuro up so that it didn't look like Tsuji himself knocked the boy out.

"What's this~? Did you knock my poor little brother out? That just means I have to kill you and by strangling you with your own intestines~"

Tsuji felt a shiver run down his spine as a cold sweat started covering his body.

He felt two soft object come up and press against his head.

A voice whispered into his ear,

" _If you make a sound then I will devour you~~_ "

Tsuji didn't make a single move and stood still, afraid of what might happen if he even blinked.

A few seconds felt like minutes to him as he waited for something to happen.

When it did...

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! It's fine, it's fine~~ Use him however you want~ Rape him or sell his organs, I don't really care~ Just make sure that you aren't caught~"

Tsuji quickly turned around to came face-to-face with the king of beasts who gladly dances atop the summit of everything.

Instead of freezing up for a different reason, he actually spoke loud and clear.

"You are the absolute worst sibling ever."

"Why thank you~"

Kushikage put her hand on her hip as she grinned down at Tsuji.

She had been joking around when she told Tsuji he could do anything with her unconscious younger brother, but she was rather disappointed in the reaction.

 _Being called the "absolute worse sibling ever" is like being called a jerk by a three-year-old kid. It sounds more like a child being mad than anything else._

She gave an sly laugh as as took a step forward.

With some effort because of added weight, Tsuji took a step back.

"And what if I am? He will still follow me even if I leave him on the side of the road~ Didn't you just have an argument with him on this matter~? You should know that how things are for him~"

Sadly, Tsuji knew this was true.

"There's also the fact that there's no one else he would follow. He's way too uncomfortable with everyone who isn't his siblings."

 _Although..._

Kushikage crossed her arms over her rather generous chest as he looked down at her unconscious brother.

Seeing him asleep at all was a rare sight. Seeing him asleep around anyone other than his siblings was just unheard of.

The king of beasts who always danced atop the summit of everything wondered what she should have felt at a time like this. Her brother seemed to be comfortable with Tsuji since he was knocked out, so she should be happy.

She just did not care.

None of this really mattered to her.

 _I truly am the worst sibling. Oh well~ The truth is always a reality that everyone tries to get away from~ No reason to not just accept it~_

With a small huff, Kushikage turned around with a bored look and raised a hand.

"Well, do what you want with him. I'm gonna go see if I can fuck around with some others~ If you ever wanna fight then just ask~"

Tsuji said nothing as he awkwardly held Mukuro up from falling to the ground.

He really did not want to carry the A-Rank around when he was unconscious, but he knew that the older sister would do nothing to help.

 _She would probably just find a trashcan to put him in..._

* * *

 _Maybe I should have at least told him that my worthless brother won't be waking up any time soon if he is around... Oh well~_

Kushikage let out a laugh as she walked through the Border hall, Trigger spinning between her fingers.

She had been rather bored since she was confined in the Yagura Branch office with nothing to do but bother Akasora or Arisa. They would get occasional visits from other agents, but no enough to put her out of her misery.

So here she was, trying to find a way to cure her boredom.

"Is there something wrong with them walking together?"

"It's just...weird! Toby isn't the type to just walk calmly like that! What's more is that she looks like she completely enjoying talking to him!"

"Isn't that just rude? And don't the two of you do that with him as well?"

"It's different! Guy friends can casually talk about things like boobs, butts, and things like that without a problem, but for a girl that's different! The only other people don't don't ever seem to get tired of him are us two, Hoshi-chan, and Mei!"

Kushikage gave a small hum as she walked over to the three talking a bit away from her.

Two of the three were trying (and failing) to hide while the third person just looked at them like they were crazy.

She ones that her little brother by two or so years was friends with one of the three people so she decided to mess with them.

As she got closer she made sure her steps were quiet.

Once she was within arm reach...

"Whatcha doin'~!?"

The reactions were instantaneous.

The two idiots trying (and failing) to hide jumped into the air while the third person tried to jump.

Hiyami was quickly captured in the arms of Kushikage with the larger female's breasts coming up on either side of Hiyami's head.

"O-oh! It's just you, Kushi-san. Don't scare us like that! I thought you were Suzume or Mei!"

Inukai held his chest as he let out a sigh.

Kushikage let out a hardy laugh as she put her head on top of Hiyami's head.

It was easy to tell that the smaller girl was very uncomfortable with the situation, but she could do nothing to stop it from happening.

"Anyways~ What are you idiots doing~? Something fun~!?"

"I doubt you'll care about it. We're spying on Toby."

Midorikawa nodded enthusiastically next to him.

"Hm~? The lil' pup? Why? Is there somethin' interestin' goin' on with 'em~? Should I let my shit stain of a lil' brother know of this~?"

Hiyami, who was still stuck in the boob trap, was the one to speak up as she struggled against her restraints.

"He is walking with a girl. That is all. These two are just overreacting for no reason."

"Oh~ Is that so~?"

Wanting to take a look for herself, Kushikage moved forward and looked over to see that it was true.

The Attacker of Kotowari Squad was walking with a girl she had not seen before.

The girl had long, dark purple hair; it extended past her lower back. She also had sunny, pale skin and light eyes. She wore she uniform, which consisted of tight-fitting shorts that stopped a bit before her knees, a semi-tight shirt with a jacket over it that was cut off at her mid-back. The B-Rank emblem was on the back of her jacket.

In a way the girl reminded Kushikage of her younger sister. The only difference was that this girl looked to be a bit more confident and not as formal as Hoshi.

 _Oh my~_

As she thought about this, she accidentally covered more of Hiyami with her body.

Inukai and Midorikawa quickly went to work trying to dig the Operator out from under the king of beasts dancing atop the summit of everything.

* * *

He enjoyed her laughing.

Toby was not too sure why, but he really liked to hear her voice in general.

He was the type of person who normally did not care about things like that and would focus more on how well they can fight. If they were in Border that is.

"I'm just saying that they could be a _bit_ nicer for others to not assume things. Don't get me wrong, Ainis still like a sister to me, but still..."

"I get it. She always seemed like a butterfly who wields violet poison."

"Yeah. And Yoko is like a cat prowling in the darkness."

"Oh~? Now I'm wondering what you think about me. I mean, to me, you seem like a beautiful beast who dwells in the moonlight."

"Moonlight? That's more for Yuki or Takeshi. If you're going to compare me then it has to be like the raging sun. And 'beautiful beast'? More like 'vicious beast'."

"I dint know about that. I've been watching some of the logs and you look rather beautiful when you're fighting."

"(Ya think so...?)"

"What?"

"Nothin'."

Toby let out a small laugh as he saw the girl walking next to him roll her eyes.

Kashi Kōchō was someone he had known for a while now but never had much time to talk too. He had been busy with training and the B-Rank War matches.

It was nice to talk like this to her.

"So, to answer your question... I would describe you as..."

As he spoke, Toby put a hand to his chest and raised his other one, getting a small laugh from the girl.

"You are like the twitter of a songbird that resounds in the night~"

"Wow~ I didn't know you could come up with such a sweet sounding thing. Are you sure that was original?"

"Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't."

The two laughed as they continued walking.

They had spent around an hour or so just walking from where they had been to the Border base and around the base.

They had both known about the two idiots of the Dog Trio that had been following them, but did not care Kuni about it. They figured that the two would leave when they got bored enough of it.

For now, they would just enjoy the time they had to talk.

It was odd for Toby to talk and walk so calmly with another person like this. He could do it, but he always found something to get a hit excited about or would start running around like a dog chasing his tail.

Yet this girl had tamed him enough to get him to act calmly.

 _Suzume would probably have a field day if she saw this. I should make sure that Haru and Shun don't tell her about it. Actually... I should make sure they don't tell any of the SS about this._

He let out a small sigh when he started thinking about he was suppose to bribe the two other idiots of the Dog Trio.

Next to him, Kōchō gave a small hum before speaking again.

"Awdry, I was wondering how-"

"TOOOOOOOOBY!"

In only a few seconds, multiple things happened all at once.

Something, rather someone, launched themselves right at Toby, fully intent on tackling him to the ground.

In response to this attack, Toby grabbed Kōchō by the hand and swung both of them around, as if dancing, dodging the attack.

The body that was headed for him ended up slamming and sliding on the ground for around a foot or so.

Before they could look over to see who it was, Toby ducked his head as a hand appeared above him. Seeing it come down towards his head he moved to the side and jumped back a bit.

"Aw~ You weren't suppose to dodge that! I just wanted to try it out~!"

Toby looked over the the body that was now getting up.

The one who had attacked him had been Minamisawa Kai while the one who had tried to get his head was Ikoma Tatsuhito. Both were Attackers from Ikoma Squad.

"You still have a good ten years before you can catch me at all, Kai. And stop trying to pat my head, Tatsu! I'm not an actual dog! Plus, you put too much force!"

"It's yer fault for havin' soft fur."

"I don't have fur! I have hair! I'm not some sort of werewolf!"

"Yer canines look sharper than others."

"That means nothing!"

From her spot Kōchō looked between the three Attackers and placed a hand to her chin.

 _He skillfully dodged Minamisawa's attack on him, but he dodged Ikoma-senpai with his Side Effect. Was it because he used his head for one and body for the other? Maybe it was just to mess with them a bit..._

She watched as Minamisawa continued to try and tackle Toby to the ground while Ikoma continued to try and pat Toby's head.

Something that she found interesting was that while the two Attackers from Ikoma Squad were in their Trion Bodies, Toby was in his real body and moving around as if it was nothing.

.

Toby could feel himself getting more and more irritated as he was getting attacked by the two other Attackers. It was easy enough to dodge Minamisawa's tackles, but Ikoma was starting to get a bit tricky.

His mind was conflicting with his reflexes and messing him up a bit, making him get grazed by the two of them at times.

 _Even if this is good practice for the match..._

"This needs to stop!"

After dodging one more tackle from Minamisawa, Toby turned his full attention to Ikoma and his moving hand.

He had started to notice the time delay between the tackles and the hand, so he knew how long it would take until the next time Minamisawa would try and tackle him.

Using his focus on Ikoma, he saw the hand heading towards his head and moved his body the way he wanted it to move.

Using something simple he had been taught by Minoru (after he had been bouncing around), he readied his body by twisting it as the hand got closer.

Once Ikoma's hand was in the right place, Toby grabbed his wrist and pulled him a bit forward before getting his upper arm. He easily lifted the body that was now behind him into the air and above him.

With a loud sound, the larger body slammed into the ground.

Knowing that he was about to be attacked by Minamisawa again, he went into action as soon as the body hit the ground.

While still on one foot because of the toss, he spin on his toes and moved back, dodging the attack.

Lifting his leg, he used the momentum from the spin to land a hard and solid kick to the smaller body's back.

Minamisawa went forward and ended up hitting the wall.

Toby and Kōchō did not bother asking if the two were fine since they knew that the two Attackers were in their Trion Bodies.

Toby let out a huff as he crossed his arms.

He glared down at the two of them.

"I'm fine with playing around, but there is a limit to these kinds if things. Learn that limit then come back so we can have some fun together and play. Got it?"

"Hm~ Hm~ Ya sound like Kiyo did. 's he Rubin' off on ya?"

"No offense to Yuki, but I'm far different than him."

"Really? Ya don't seem too different. Same animalistic eyes."

"(Do you want to end up on the floor again?)"

"Huh?"

Toby could only let out a sigh as he thought of a way out of the conversation.

Luckily, Kōchō was was to save him.

"Well, it was interesting to see what I did, but the two of us need to get going. I don't want to keep Awdry away from his team for too long."

Minamisawa jumped in front of them and smiled up at Toby.

The smile reminded the brunet of both his younger brother and Midorikawa when they were excited.

His expression softened a bit at seeing the younger's face.

"Hey, Toby, make sure you don't think this means you can beat us in the next match! That's when I'll really go all out!"

"A one-on-one match is fine, but not during a match. Each team tries to win, so you need to actually fight as a team. If you go after me then you'll need to deal with the others too."

Toby was about to pat Minamisawa's head like he did to his younger brother, and sometimes Midorikawa, but held back in case he was tackled or head patted himself.

Minamisawa on the other hand lowed his head a bit, as if expecting to have his hair ruffled.

Toby couldn't help the small chuckle that came out.

"Well," he started, "like Kōchō said, we should get going. We can play around later on. I'll need some exercise so I'll be looming for you two."

With that being said he started walking away with Kōchō right beside him.

The two waved back at the two from Ikoma Squad.

Toby could only think about how he really did want to fight the both of them during their next B-Rank War match.

.

Kōchō was amazed by the way Toby had went about the whole ordeal.

She knew that he loved "playing around" with others by have fights with them and instead of doing just that he stayed with her. It actually did make her feel a bit special. Just a bit.

Noticing that he was being looked at, Toby tilted his head.

"Is something wrong?"

"No. Not really. I was just thinking that you seemed like a big brother to Minamisawa back there. Like you're use to dealing wit that kind of stuff."

Toby let out a sheepish laugh.

"Me as a big brother for others? I think you're giving me too much credit there. I'm hardly a big brother to my own brother, let alone for others. I would say that Yuki and Minoru have me beat at that. They're both more reliable when it comes to that stuff."

"Don't sell yourself short like that. If anything you seemed more like an animal looking over his pack. Would saying that make you feel any better?"

"Not at all! I'm not an animal! Why do people keep saying I'm like an animal!?"

"Maybe because you act like one. Actually, you seem more like...a beautiful beast dancing in the light~"

"Gah! That's just messed up!"

Kōchō let out a laugh when she saw Toby start to pout.

"Well, at least I'm not poisonous like Ai is."

"What are you saying about me?"

The faced forward and saw Kitora walking near them in the hall with two boxes in her arms.

Being the person he was, Toby started forward to get a box from the A-Rank's arms.

She took a step back and glared at him.

"I was just trying to help."

"Hm. You say that after saying I'm poisonous behind my back. You are very contradictory at times, you know."

"Yeah, yeah. Just let me help out here. I'll look like an ass if I just let someone else do this stuff while I just stand around them."

Not bothering to argue with him, Kitora let him take the top box.

That seemed to be the heavier one since Toby gave an almost silent grunt while Kitora let out a sigh.

That was when she noticed the other person there.

"Hello, Kashi-senpai."

"Hello, Kitora."

Putting on a kind smile, Kōchō continued on while looking at Kitora.

At this point both Toby and Kōchō were just following Kitora to wherever she needed to drop the boxes off at.

"It's actually a good thing you are here. Now we can clarify something that's been between us for a while now."

Toby let out a sigh while Kitora raised an eyebrow.

Taking that as a sign to continue, Kōchō did just so.

"Would you or would you not say that Awdry here is like a beautiful beast dancing in the light when he is fighting? I say he his while he disagrees."

Kitora looked over to Toby and saw him giving her a pleading look.

Deciding to have some fun with this, he spoke up with a small smirk.

"'Beautiful beast' is not what I would call him. He's more like an animal who always wants to fight."

"Oh~ And what kind of animal would you say he is?"

"I _would_ say dog-"

Toby clicked his tongue.

"-but I would have to say he's more like a wolf."

"Still a dog in the end..."

"He's as ferocious as one, that's for sure. But he definitely cares for others like a wolf would their pack. What's more is that he understands that he needs others' help if he wants to achieve victory. Well, at least he does _now._ There's also the fact that he's starting to move more smoothly and with purpose. His training with others is really getting him to improve."

"Ai..."

"But even a dog is still smarter than him."

If it wasn't for the fact he had a box in his hands, Toby would have started going off on the A-Rank, reminding her of different times he had actually done better than her when it came to smarts and whatnot.

Instead he grumbled under his breath while the two girls just laugh at his misery.

He knew that the two of them were teasing and so let it go easily.

It was also a thing for him to let go of things directed at him easily enough, so him being called a dog and an animal was fine by him. It was never said to him with malice, so there was no reason for him to take it with any malice.

Besides, there was no reason to ruin the two girls' fun when they seemed to be having fun teasing him.

.

After a few minutes of walking, Toby decided to ask a question while looking down.

"By the way, Ai, where are we even taking these boxes?"

"We're actually taking them to your squad's operating room."

"Hm? Our operating room? Why? What's in them?"

"I don't know. Apparently Misaki-senpai had asked for Satori-senpai to deliver them, but he was out at the moment. I offered to do it since Arashiyama-senpai had something else to do. Tokieda-senpai also offered, but I declined the help."

"Suzume did...?"

In only a few seconds Toby dropped the box he was holding on the ground and quickly bent down while going into his Trion body.

The two girls stopped and looked back at him.

Kitora was about to scold him for just dropping the box, but stayed quiet once he had used Scorpion to cut open the top of the box.

Next to her Kōchō held in some laughter.

"Th-that... (That damn woman! When I see her again...! GAH! How many are even- Wait! There's different ones!)"

There, sitting in the box, were doujinshi with different covers, yet all having Toby on the front of each one.

The first few had him with his squad's Shooter.

The next few had him with his squad's latest member.

The last few had him with his squad's former captain and the captain of Hatohara Squad.

Deciding that he needed to see what else she had made behind his back, he took the box from Kitora's and related what he did to his own box.

The top few had him with Kitora.

Her reaction had been to go bright red.

She calmed down a bit after he had told her it was just some fluff.

Next was him with Inukai and Midorikawa.

The next five were with him and Noah.

The last few were with him and some of the male A-Rank agents.

"..."

"Awdry?"

"..."

The two girls were a bit worried at this point since he was just sitting there and shacking.

"(DAMN HER! AND WHAT'S WITH THAT CRACK PAIRING CRAP ON THE LAST FEW! SHE CAN GO ROT IN HELL! THERE'S PROBABLY A SPECIAL PLACE JUST FOR HER!)"

Quickly jumping to his feet, Toby grabbed the two boxes and started running down the hall.

"I'm gonna go see her right now! Come if you want, but it'll be messy!"

Kitora and Kōchō gave each other a quick look before running after Toby at top speed.

* * *

After they finally caught up with him, they came to the sigh of Toby with a Scorpion blade in hand while Suzume had a Scorpion blade wrapped around her middle finger.

"What's with this crap, Suzume!? And what's with all of it involving me!? What did I do to deserve all of this!?"

"It's honestly not my fault that you've been going around making new material for me! And what's more is that the fan girls seem to like that wild side of yours! Be happy! Most if them are you honestly being the seme!"

"So I'm the uke in some of them!?"

Kitora rubbed the bridge of her nose while Kōchō face-palmed.

Both were feeling a good amount of second-hand embarrassment right now.

Apparently the two idiots fighting right now had decided to start said fight in the middle of a large amount of other agents.

Some were cheering for Suzume, most wanting to read the doujinshi she had made.

Others were cheering for Toby, most having been subjected to a similar thing themselves.

"Well~ At least this'll honestly be a good way to find out who has the better Side Effect~"

"Ready..."

The two girls started forward to stop the fight but only one made it on time.

Kitora rushed up and lifted her leg when she was in reach.

A green blade came out from her foot and stabbed right into the brunet's crotch.

She looked over at Suzume and saw that a large object made for Snipers had landed on her head.

Although neither one of the Kotowari Squad members were actually hurt, there was a good amount of shock at the places they had been hit that they both left their Trion bodies and backed away.

Toby quickly covered his testicles and gave a shaky look towards Kitora.

Many guys were also covering their testicales at this point.

Off to the side Suzume was complaining to Narasaka, the person who had hit her with an Ibis.

"A-Ai... No matter wh-what was going on... There was no reason to stab me _there_! Do you know how traumatizing that is!? That's from some kind of horror film that only super sadists would watch! A-are you one of those people!?"

Behind him the boys were nodding their heads and agreeing with him.

Knowing that it was better to ignore him altogether, Kitora walked over to Suzume and Narasaka.

"I know this isn't how you wanted them to be delivered, but if hope this is fine. I need to spend the next few hours calming that guy down from his weird and idiotic panic attack."

Suzume let out a sigh as she placed her arms under her breasts.

"It's honestly fine. If you need any help with him then just call. I'm sure Mei-san or Take would be happy to beat him up a bit."

 _That's not really what I was going to do..._

Wanting to leave this discussion quickly, Kitora gave a quick bow before walking back over to where Kōchō was was trying to calm Toby down.

She didn't think she had actually done anything too terrible.

Feeling had about basically traumatizing him for life, Kitora lifted her hand and placed it on his head.

There was hesitation on what she was going to do, but she figured it would help him calm down a bit from this.

Maybe she was just going soft.

...

She liked to think otherwise.

She started her hand a bit until he looked up at her.

He jumped back and gave a small glare.

"Ai! I'm! Not! A! Dog!"

The two girls could only sigh and go along with everything at this point.

Off to the side, Suzume seemed to be writing something down while looking over at them and being dragged away by an irritated Narasaka.

 _He is definitely as a simple as any dog I've seen..._


	6. Child in the Moonlit Snow

**Child in the Moonlit Snow**

* * *

The break period until the next B-Rank War match was almost over. Most squads were still figuring out plans on what to do for their next matches, or practicing more for said matches.

One certain Border agent was doing no so such thing.

 _I'll have to thank Suzu for giving me a recording of Ho-chan singing. Although she's still going to get punished for getting my sweet little sister to do such a thing._

Tsukiko Yuki continued to hum to the song that was playing on his phone. This particular song was sung by his younger sister after she had been tricked into singing on a stage for a park concert near his branch office.

He was glad to have such a thing from her (the song that is), but he did not like having her wear such an outfit in public.

He has already had to threaten multiple guys who ask been asking around for her. Some even went so far as to ask him if they could go out with her.

Those ones were never heard from again.

 _There's also the fact that because of her, Wakamura had the balls to ask her out. I'll have to talk to him about that later. There's no way he will ever be good enough for her, so I might as well put an end to this before it goes any further._

While he thought of such things, the agent with a sister complex had something else to do before that.

He was in charge of multiple things concerning the newly made Yagura Branch of Border and needed to help his boss and teacher, it was his job. What was more was that he also needed to keep an eye on his older sister and younger brother so that the two would not go around and do something that could end badly.

To sum it all up, he is always kept busy now.

The main issue with all of this was the fact he was sick.

He had some kind of illness that had appeared after a certain incident with a certain former A-Rank agent. That meant he had to take things easy at times and not push himself too hard. He had been told this multiple times by multiple people, but has yet to completely heed those words.

This was one of those times.

Instead of relaxing with the free time he currently has, he was out and walking around, looking for certain people.

 _Kou said he would be in Tetsu's operating room. I might as well see if Haru and Minoru can meet us there. No need to walk around pointlessly if they can't come in the first place._

Yuki sent a linked message to two of his other best friends as he made his way to the third one.

As he walked through the halls of Border he could not help but to think about the reason he needed to see the three of them.

Yuki was once a captain for a high ranked B-Rank squad before he had disbanded the squad for his own selfish reason.

The three other Combatants had not taken kindly to the disbandment but their Operator was well prepared for it. In the end, the three had proven that they were a mess without him there to guide them around like a parent and his children.

One beating and talking later, the three were back to working like a well oiled machine, if not far better.

At some point they had added a new member to their squad, who happened to be Yuki's younger her sister. He had been fine with this since he knew that the squad would not treat her badly.

Now a new issue had come up.

One of the squad members had asked Yuki for help so he could get better for the B-Rank Wars.

That by itself was not anything much. The main issue was that Yuki had this strange parental feeling towards all of them and now wanted to help out the whole squad.

He had suggested that the squad go up against another squad they had not yet faced off against. The suggestion was agreed upon by the captains of the two squads, but he felt like even that was not enough. He wanted to do more for them. To help them out as much as he could.

Maybe it was guilt or regret that caused him to feel this. It could have also been just general love for his former squad.

Whatever the case, he was now determined to help them to the best of his abilities.

That was why he needed to ask his three best friends for their assistance.

 _Could I be going too far? Meh. I could just say I'm do this so that Ho-chan doesn't have to deal with a team that can't keep up. Granted... Those three may end up steamrolling others if they get any better... Wait..._

Yuki stopped in his tracks as a heavy atmosphere started forming around him. He quickly broke out in a nervous sweat and started shaking.

None of this was from his sickness.

"I-if those three a-are going to l-learn anything else f-from me or Mei..."

The image of a completely destroyed Mikado City appeared in his mind. In the rubble of the destroyed city stood four figures. He could see a few green orbs, two small green blades, something that looked like a gun and what could be called ribbons of light.

Each one of the four figures had a sinister smile as the wind blew their clothes.

"NONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONO! That's can't happen! I refuse to let that happen! Border is suppose to protect Mikado City, not destroy it until there is nothing left up the memories of the city! Those four would destroy everything before a single Gate would even open up! It would end up worse than any invasion before or after it! And Mei wouldn't even try to stop it!"

"Can you please stop yelling and come in already? You're freaking out passing people."

"Eh?"

Yuki turned his head to the side and saw Border's #4 Attacker and his #1 best friend standing in the doorway of what he guessed was Arafune Squad's operating room. His mind was still jumbled up from his thought.

Murakami Kou only looked at his friend with a slightly raised eyebrow.

He watched Yuki slowly turn his head to face him with a cold sweat running down his body. His eyes quickly filled with worry, thinking that Yuki was out when he should not have been and needed to get to bed.

He held his arm out to put his hand on the other's shoulder.

"Kiyo-"

"KOOOOOOOUUUUUUU! We need to make sure they don't destroy Mikado Cityyyyyyyyy!"

Murakami was surpsied when Yuki sudden leaped forward and wrapped his arms around his neck, crying the whole time. All he could do was stare, wide-eyed as Yuki started rambling on and on about something he just did not understand.

He turned his head towards the room while slowly backing up and dragging his friend inside. Using his foot, he closed the door before moving over to take a seat.

Yuki had always been an odd person; he use to be rough and had no filter, yet always had a sister complex, never saw Murakami as anything more than a classmate until around two years ago, would never show any emotion except anger and irritation, and always had on a smile as a mask recently. Seeing him like this truly was astonishing and concerning.

The other two in the room seemed to think so as well.

"Has he decided to switch personalities again? That's a bad habit I suggest you get out of right now."

"Hey, Tetsu, would you like one of those dumbells to end up right on top of your feet?"

"Doesn't seem to have changed at all to me."

"Continue talking. See what happens when you're finally done with it."

Already knowing how this would turn out, Murakami pushed Yuki off of him and went to take a seat.

Yuki let out a small sigh as he too got comfortable in the room.

"So, what did you want from me?"

"You don't have to out it like that. It sounds like you don't like doing any of the favors I ask of you."

"To be fair..."

"Only three times did you get screwed over because of me. Don't start saying that I'm the cause of everything you've been through."

"..."

"Anyways. I'll tell you when Minoru and Haru get here. It's something I have to ask the three of you. By the way..."

Looking over at the two with a good amount of muscle, Yuki let out a sad sigh. He turned to Murakami and looked as his arms before clicking his tongue.

The other three in the room looked at each other in confusion before turning back to him.

Yuki turned his head to the side with a distant look in his eyes. He didn't seem to be speaking to them specifically, but his tone was definitely one of great sadness and defeat.

"Man... It must be nice to have even some muscle... Thanks to a certain someone...I'm stuck with these lanky arms and skinny legs... I'm pretty sure that even Hoshi and Takeshi have more muscle than me... Being around these guys just makes me feel worse..."

Arafune walked closer to the saddened A-Rank with a raised eyebrow.

"What are you talking about? Last time I checked you had a good amount of muscle on you."

"His illness is to blame. He can't really go around working out, so he started losing those muscles."

Murakami was the one to explain it, but he said it with a bit of uncertainty.

"Let's see if that's true."

Both Murakami and Arafune turned to Hokari, who was getting up and walking towards Yuki. His hands were a bit outstretched, but no particular expression could be seen on his face.

Deciding that they were a bit curious themselves, the other two of the same year turned to Yuki and started walking forward.

In unison, the three of them said,

"Just stay still and make this easier for all of us."

* * *

"What could he want~? What could he want~? I wonder~"

Minoru looked over to his best friend with a questioning look.

The two of them had been messaged by Yuki to meet up with him and Murakami at Arafune Squad's operating room. They hadn't been given a reason as to why, but they were both free at the moment, so it was decided that they would go.

Ninomiya had given them both an irritated look when he was told that they would both be leaving to see Yuki. The reaction was expected.

Knowing that he would have to make it up to his boyfriend later only Minoru turned his attention back to his best friend.

"Haru-chan, why are you so happy about this?"

"Because~ Kiyo doesn't usually ask things of others~ Even before the incident with Ninomiya-san, he would make sure not to ask much if others~ Only Murakami has been asked to do things before~"

The incident involving Yuki and Ninomiya.

Only a handful of people who what had actually happened during that incident, Inukai and Murakami being included in that. Surprisingly enough, Minoru was not one of those people.

He had asked Ninomiya, Inukai and even Yuki about it before, but given all the same answer.

"Never bring that up. _Ever_."

He had thought about asking Mei about, since she had known Yuki the longest, next to Murakami, Kageura, and Akasora, but figured that she would either give the same answer or just tactfully move around the subject.

She was just that good.

To this day, no one really knew what happened before the current A-Rank and the former A-Rank.

Shaking his head a bit, Minoru focused back in on Inukai.

"Let's see~ Knowing Kiyo like I do... Something to do with Hoshi-chan? Mei-san? Maybe it's just that he needs to get some stress out with a fight or two. Yeah. That makes sense. What do you think?"

Minoru gave a hum.

"Honestly, I'm not sure. It could really be anything."

"You kinda sounded like Suzume there for a second."

Inukai put his arms behind his head as they continued walking.

"But having a Side Effect like Mei-san's or Jin-san's would be nice right about now. Either see what he wants or calculate it to perfection. Man~ Those two are so lucky."

"There are drawbacks to both of their Side Effects, though."

"Guess you're right~"

Minoru could only let out a sigh as Inukai continued to grin.

 _Is getting asked a favor from Loki that important to him?_

.

It didn't take long for the two to reach the B-Rank operating room.

Once they were in front if it, Minoru knocked on the door before opening it.

"Hey, we're like you-..."

The sight the two came to was an odd one that neither expected.

Although...

"Suzume's gonna love this~"

Inukai quickly pulled out his phone and started taking picture after picture.

"Are we...interrupting something...?"

There, in front of the two, was Yuki, on the floor and without a shirt, being held down by Murakami and Hokari while Arafune sat on his chest.

Overall it was a scene that brought a lot of questions to mind.

Arafune was the first to speak between the four on the floor.

"It's not what it looks like...?"

Not sure what else to do, Minoru simply walked out of the room and closed the door.

He waited a few seconds before opening it again to see Yuki with an irritated expression while putting his shirt back on. In his hand was Inukai's phone.

Off to the side, Inukai, Murakami and Arafune held their heads while Hokari looked like nothing happened.

"Before you say anything, there's an explaination."

Minoru said nothing and waited for Yuki to continue.

"Those three idiots wanted to see if I really had any muscles left from before I got sick. Like I would let them do what they want, so I fought back. Of course I really couldn't do anything with the three if them being jackasses and working out."

"Why would they care about that? You don't need muscles to-"

Before he could finish talking, Minoru had to duck as something went flying over his head.

He looked up to see Yuki glaring down at him.

"I don't want to hear this coming from the jerk who shows his own muscles for his uniform..."

* * *

Once the fuming A-Rank was calm, the group went out for something to eat.

That got quickly replaced with going to an ice cream parlor because Yuki didn't care about what the others wanted.

So here they were, staring at the amazing sight of Yuki devouring the ice cream in his hand before moving over to eat the Popsicles nearby. To finish it off, there was even a large bucket of ice cream that he had bought from the parlor after begging to have it.

 _What the hell am I even watching...?_

Murakami let out a sigh as he shook his head. Being one of the two people who were use to seeing this, he knew that there was nothing he could do to stop this from happening.

Inukai, being the other person who was use to this, simply recorded the whole thing with his phone.

Yuki had given it back to him after deleting the pictures.

"So," started Minoru while trying to look away, "what did you need from us?"

"What's with you guys and putting it that way? You swear like I'm asking you to kill someone."

"To be fair..."

"Tetsu, please be quiet."

Yuki let out a small him as he finished the ice cream on his spoon.

The others could only think one thing,

 _Is he really sick?_

Once he was finished with all the ice cream, while the others were still trying to finish their own, he patted his stomach with a content sigh.

"Anyways. I was going to ask you three if you could help me out in a fight. Kotowari Squad and Tamakoma-2 are gonna have their practice match soon, so I thought I could join in on the fun. I want to see how much better they have gotten up close. I figured you three could help with that."

"Aw~ Is Kiyo-otou-san worried about his kids~? How adorable. Well, Otou-san, I think you should know that one of your kids is dating someone~"

"Tsk. Don't remind me. I still need to talk to Hoshi about that."

"Oh, no, no, no. Not Hoshi-chan. I'm talking about Toby. He's been hanging around wth this girl for a while now. They really look like a couple to me."

"Good for him. I'm sure she's a good person if he chose her."

"Hey, hey, hey. That's a bit unfair, isn't it? How come Yuki-otou-san is fine with one of his kids having a girlfriend but not with his sister having a boyfriend? At least put them on equal ground."

"I have to agree with Kiyo-otou-san on this one. Hoshi is not ready to have a boyfriend yet."

"And here comes Kou-oji-san! Wow~ Just missing Mei-okaa-san now~ Want me to give her a call!? I'm sure you'd love that!"

Minoru and Hokari continued to just watch the odd conversation continue while Arafune added his own two cents front time to time. It was rather difficult to interrupt the three, though, since it all seemed to continue too smoothly.

Once it got to the point of Yuki looking ready to choke the Shooter, the others decided to enter in and stop it.

Yuki settled back down and gave a huff.

"So, about what I'm asking. Will you three help me out or not?"

"You ask as if I have a choice in the matter. Besides, it'll be good practice since we're going up against Tamakoma in our next match."

"That's the spirit. Use what you can to your advantage. Now, Haru? Mino? Are you two joining in?"

"I don't see why not. I'm fine with it."

"I'm cool with it~ It sounds pretty fun~"

Yuki nodded his head.

He pulled out his phone without looking at any of them.

As he typed away he spoke up again.

"Alright. Let me just get our Operator then. She should be fine with helping us with this."

"Who is it?"

"Kimura. She was my former Operator when I was still on a team with Mei."

Three of the other five shared confused looks while the other two simply nodded their heads, already knowing that fact.

Kimura Kawaguchi was currently an Operator for a B-Rank squad. The connection she had with Yuki and Mei was most likely enough to gain her assistance, but if not there were other options.

Overall, this makeshift team was set and ready to join in the battle between the two B-Rank squads who would fight each other.

Arafune, after finish his own treat, turned to Yuki with a bit of a confused look.

"Out of curiosity, why ask these three? Couldn't you ask the ones from your branch? Your siblings may be a bit much, but what about Tenryū and his friends? Wouldn't that be good practice for them too?"

"How do you even know about Shobu?"

"Hanzaki and Sasamori have spoken about him before."

"Makes sense. Well, Shobu is the only one of the three that could probably keep up with them. Ame and Kaze are still getting up there. We do have Futo and Bōdō, but they are...special cases. I wouldn't feel comfortable with them joining in."

"What about that big guy who is usually there?"

"Pyrínas isn't a part of Border. He's just...someone who likes being at our branch. I want these guys' help because I known they'll be helpful. That's not mentioning the fact Haru got his ass kicked by Kotowari Squad already and Kou got his ass kicked by both squads already."

"Hey!"

"Rude."

Yuki ignored the two he just insulted and continued to look at Arafune.

"Why? Are you jealous that I didn't ask you? It's fine, it's fine. I understand that you must really want to get taken out by Suzu or Toby."

"Wow. Could you sound even more like a proud parent? You're taking this too far now. Is this another growing complex you have? How many is that now? Five? Seven?"

"I'm pretty sure it's ten at this point."

Yuki glared at the two Snipers from the same squad before letting out a huff and falling flat on the table.

This got a few questioning looks.

It was really starting to make him feel like he would be questioned for everything he did or said at this point.

 _Maybe I'm just not being too clear with my words and actions. I can't be blamed this time._

"Out of steam?"

He turned to Murakami and gave a small nod.

"I guess that's to be expected. When was the last time you got some actual rest? Have you taken your medicine today? Do want me to take you back to the branch office?"

"Don't you think you should let him answer one question before asking another ten more?"

"I'm just tired right now. I'm trying to less the load for Sensei as much as I can. It doesn't help that we are constantly getting reports and forced to write apologizes for Kushi, and sometimes Muku. Even Nakagami and Futo have caused some sort of issue that we had to get involved in."

Inukai gave a hum as he swayed a bit in his seat.

"Now that you mention it, your siblings have been coming by the operating room quite a bit lately. They usually go to bug the others. Well, Kushikage-san does at least. Mukuro just ends up sleeping around Tsuji most of the time."

"Taka's been complaining about your sister every once in a while."

"Sorry about that. We really can't control that woman. Muku doesn't usually cause too much trouble, but he ends up following Kushi, so he gets caught up in the trouble."

Murakami and Arafune, the two who were sitting next to Yuki, could only pat his back in pity.

Hokari seemed to want to ask some of his own question as he moved his cub to the side.

"Can't the other branch members help in that at least?"

"The younger ones don't really know how to deal with that kind of stuff. Although Shobu helps out at times. Arisa at least tries to keep Futo and Nakagami under as much control as possible. Pyrínas is able to hold that woman off for a while, but that's only when Michelle and Mitsu don't stop by to play with him."

"Ah. That would be on my part. Michelle just likes going over there so much."

"It's fine."

Yuki let out a sigh.

"It just really sucks to be sick. That just adds another burden for Sensei to deal with."

"What even is your illness?"

Instead of an answer there was only awkward silence.

Yuki closed his eyes with another sigh while Murakami and Inukai seemed uncomfortable with the conversation all of a sudden.

It didn't take a genius to understand that this must have had something to do with the certain incident involving Yuki and Ninomiya.

Feeling that the awkwardness was far too oppressive, Minoru clapped his hands and gave his best smile.

"Well, you can just message us when it is. Unless you already know what when it's going to be."

"I'm not sure. I'll have to get back to you on that. Thanks for the help, though. I really appreciate it. As both a friend and their former captain."

It was a bit surprising to see Yuki give such a sincere and gentle smile.

They could only think one thing at the time,

 _Even this guy has his moments, I suppose._

* * *

Once they were all done with the ice cream parlor, Inukai and Minoru took their leave so they could go to their respective significant others.

That left the group with the two older snipers from Arafune Squad, Border's #4 Attacker, and the sick agent.

They had decided to just walk around and talk about this or that. Nothing particular came up, but that was fine with the four of them.

The sun had started to set a bit over the horizon, making the four think it would be better to just go back to the base.

"By the way, Hanzaki had said you owe him and Hiura a trip to get some ice cream. Do you plan to hear him whine about how we went without them?"

"Hey, I never said when we would go. I'm fine to go get some ice cream at any time of the week."

"True. With your addiction to it-"

"Not an addiction."

"-I wouldn't be surpsied if you went tomorrow to get some with them. How much of your money do you even burn through going there, anyways?"

"Not much. I get good discounts because of how many times I go there."

"Sadly, they all know him quite well by now. It doesn't matter who has what shift since he goes there constantly."

"Well jeez, Kou, if you say it like that-"

"It is most certainly an addiction."

"Better that than drugs!"

"And he didn't deny it this time around..."

The four let out laughs at the odd, yet fun argument.

None of them had any malice to their words, so they were all fine with this kind of conversation.

Although it did remind them all of how things were around two or so years ago.

 **Warning: A Gate is opening. If anyone is in the Forbidden Zone, please leave at once.**

The four looked around to see if they could spot the Gate opening up.

None of them were on duty at the moment, but they figured there was no reason to not help if it was nearby. It was still a part of their job after all.

Two Gates quickly opened up in front of the group. The one closer to the ground had two Marmods come out of it while the one higher in the sky had a Bander appear out of it.

Arafune, Hokari, and Murakami all pulled out their Triggers.

They were ready to fight.

"...!"

But they had no time to do so.

Before they could even enter their Trion bodies, something sped passed them and ran through one of the Marmods' eye.

The object that had ran through the eye was a gray rod with two blunt ends with one side having two smaller rods sticking out of it. It looked to be around Murakami's arm length.

As the first Marmods fell to the ground, a body appeared in front of it, grabbing the gray rod.

"One."

The body was Yuki, and the gray rod was his specialized Trigger known as Idōgetsu.

Before either of the other three could enter their Trion bodies, Yuki had gone into his and launched an attack that took down the Trion soldier in a single hit.

As if saying they were not needed, Yuki turned his wrist and pulled Idōgetsu out of the Marmod from the side.

On the end of Idōgetsu was a blade shaped as a crescent.

He turned on his heel and easily sliced through the second Marmod with ease.

In the same motion he was able to land a cut on one of the Bander's legs.

"Two."

With a quick glance up, Yuki disappeared from his spot on the ground, only to reappear in front of the Bander's face.

"Three."

Once again, with one motion, he was able to cut the Trion soldier's eye and take it out.

He landed calmly on the ground while the Neighbor fell to the ground in front of him.

He turned back to the other three as he put away Idōgetsu.

"Well, that was boring."

The other three could only smile or shake their heads at what they saw.

Arafune walked up with a small smile on his face.

"See? You don't need muscles. Your fighting style doesn't rely on muscles, so there's no reason to need any."

Yuki said nothing as he got out of his Trion body. His back was turned away from the other three, so they were not able to see his face.

They saw his shoulders shaking a bit.

Thinking that he was laughing, the three walked towards him. He continued shaking, but for a completely different reason.

They saw his face and quickly started to panic a bit.

Blood could be seen coming from the edge of Yuki's mouth while his face was scrunched up in pain.

"Kiyo-"

That's when it happened.

Yuki quickly fell to the ground in a fit of coughs. Each cough was filled with blood that splattered on his hand as he covered his mouth to keep it from all falling to the ground.

It didn't take long for him to start falling forward with his eyes closed.

Luckily, Murakami was quick enough to catch him before he fell face first onto the ground.

He turned to the two snipers and said, "I'll take him to the branch office. He'll probably be fine after taking his medicine."

The other two could only nod as their friends left.

* * *

The first thing Yuki awoke to was a hand in front of his face.

He turned his head to see that the hand belonged to his best friend, Murakami Kou.

Then he noticed what was in his best friend's hand.

Without a single word, he rolled over and off the sofa he was on. There was no way he was going to deal with that _thing_ again. Not after how bad it left his tongue last time.

Before he could get far, a foot landed on his stomach. It wasn't pushed down or anything, it was just...there.

Murakami looked down at his best friend while holding the bottle of medicine in his hand.

"Where do you think you're going? You know you need to take your medicine. Don't make me get Kushikage-san in here to help me with this."

Still saying nothing, Yuki groaned and opened his mouth.

As if having done this multiple times (which he had), Murakami poured some medicine in the cap of the bottle before pouring what was in the cap into Yuki's mouth.

Yuki gave a look of disgust and got up from the floor once Murakami took his foot away.

"Bleh! Thanks for the help, but no thanks for the disgusting medicine. I'm going to be stuck with this taste for the rest of the night. What's worse is that I can't wash it down or cover it up since I can't eat or drink anything for the next hour or so."

"No problem. It was my pleasure, really."

"Tsk."

Yuki let out a sigh as he sat down on the sofa. He ran his fingers through his hair and looked over to see Murakami take refuge on one if the recliner chairs nearby.

"So, do you know where everyone is? Was anyone even here when we got here?"

"Pyrínas-san had just left when we got here while Sensei is in his office. I think he's just relaxing in there, not doing work. As for your siblings... They weren't here. Same goes for Hiinu Squad, and Tenryū Squad left with Pyrínas-san."

"Ah~ That's nice~ No one else is here to annoy us. So nice~ Thanks for the help by the way. I'll buy you something pretty later. Just remind me."

"It's fine. No need to spend you money like that. Besides, you need to use if for the medicine anyways. If anything you still have it worse for even having to take the stuff. That taste is still burned in my memory."

"Right~? That stuff's nasty. And you only had a little bit. How do you think I feel?"

The two laughed at the torture item known as medicine.

"Ya know... We really have issues, don't we?"

Murakami raised an eyebrow towards his friend.

It was nowhere near rare for the other to jugs change subjects on a dime.

If a certain topic was boring him then he would quickly to go another one.

That was something only a few people knew about. Most would assume that Yuki was the type to listen patiently and politely, when in reality he would want to change the subject.

That was the case in this situation.

"How do you figure? I mean, you of course have too many complexes. I'm fine the way I am."

"Ha! Anyways. What I meant is that we have issues when it comes to teams. We care for our teams, yet we are the ones being taken care of by them. Well, everything is pretty much past tense with me. But that's how things are."

"Hm. I think it's still that way now."

"Guess you're right. After all, Kuruma-san had to pedal through the rain because you were being such a crybaby~"

"Says the one who ended up having Misaki defend him from some grade schoolers because he didn't want to do anything to them."

"You're more of a dog than anything for the team. At least I made it as captain."

"Only because you ended up tricking those poor guys into believing you were an honest guy."

"..."

"..."

The two started laughing once again.

Even with those harsh words being thrown at each other, they took it as nothing more than playful banter.

Around two years ago they would never dare say such things to each other, more so out of respect than anything else.

Now, though, these words were nothing more than fodder for some humor.

"By the way, even after all of this time, you never told me one important thing. Mind saying it now?"

Yuki tilted his head to the side in confusion.

"You never told me why you picked those three to be on your team. As far as I knew, you just wanted to be on a team with Senpai and no one else."

"Ah. I see. Did I really not tell you that yet? Well, it's actually really simple."

Yuki paused for a moment.

He looked down at nothing particular.

Murakami wasn't too surpsied to see a kind and sincere smile appear on his face as he seemed to think back on the reason he had.

"Really, it was out of pity. At least for Take and Toby. Suzu was...well because she seemed like she needed it. I knew about Take and Toby's predicaments, so I guess I took pity on them. In the ended it felt more like I wanted them to feel like they were fine with us and that they had a home."

"..."

"Sappy, I know. But hey, look at things now. It seems they don't really need me. They get along well without me even needing to be there. They both have a good amount of friends, so of course they can do things on their own. Suzu was already pretty independent. I think that was really shown when I disbanded the squad. She was the one, besides Mei, who was least effected by it. She was mad, but she was still fine."

"Hm. Is Yuki-otou-san feeling like he's going to be out in a retirement home now that his kids are all grown up and moving on? Don't worry, I'll end up there anyways."

"Hm. Maybe. At least I don't have too worry too much about them. With the inclusion of Hoshi, they really don't be lonely. Birds of a feather, I suppose."

"Do you need a hug there, buddy?"

"When the heck did you get so cheeky?"

"You're not the best influence."

"Heh. Guess you're right."

As he spoke, Yuki let out a yawn.

He moved his body so that he would end up falling on the sofa with his legs on the end.

"Well, I'm going to sleep. If you want to stay then just ask Sensei where the blankets are."

"It's fine. I already know."

Yuki gave a hum as he started to fall asleep.

* * *

The break period until the next B-Rank War match was almost over. Most squads were still figuring out plans on what to do for their next matches, or practicing more for said matches.

One certain Border agent was doing no so such thing.

He was in charge of multiple things concerning the newly made Yagura Branch of Border and needed to help his boss and teacher, it was his job. What was more was that he also needed to keep an eye on his older sister and younger brother so that the two would not go around and do something that could end badly.

To sum it all up, he is always kept busy now.

The main issue with all of this was the fact he was sick.

He had some kind of illness that had appeared after a certain incident with a certain former A-Rank agent. That meant he had to take things easy at times and not push himself too hard. He had been told this multiple times by multiple people, but has yet to completely heed those words.

But none of that mattered at the moment.

Right now, Tsukiko Yuki was asleep.

He felt no pain and felt no stress from anything.

This was a peaceful moment for him.


	7. Team

**Team**

* * *

"Eh~? Eh~? What's this? What's this~~? Is Kanzaki-san going to be playing around in Mino's place~?"

"Continue to poke me like that and I will show you just how fast I can cut your fingers off..."

"Are you sure it's... _safe_ to have her around?"

"Does it really matter at this point? Besides, let this be a lesson to you all."

"For what!?"

On one side of the room was a group of Border agents wearing blue uniforms. Amatori Chika, Hyuse, and Kuga Yūma stood near their captain, Mikumo Osamu. Their Operator, Shiori Usami, sat near them as she watched things go on.

On another side of the room was a group wearing all completely different uniforms. The designated captain, Tsukiko Yuki, simply let out a sigh as he watched Kanzaki Suuku inch towards her Trigger while Inukai Sumiharu happily poked at her cheek with a smile. Murakami Kou and Kimura Kawaguchi simply watched on as if this did not concern them.

In the middle of the room was the last group who wore the same gray uniforms. While Misaki Suzumebachi tried to mess around with Hyuse and hug Amatori, Toby Awdry was talking animatedly with Kuga with Kotowari Takeshi doing the same, with less enthusiasm, with Mikumo. Their Operator, Takaoto Mei, only nodded her head towards Kanzaki.

Then there were the ones sprawled around. They were the other members of the Tamakoma Branch.

These three groups were all together so that they could have a match with each other. It had been set so that only Kotowari Squad and Tamakoma's Mikumo Squad would battle it out, but that got changed once the new A-Rank in the room decided to join in with his own team.

They were just waiting on one person at this point.

This waiting was killing some of them.

"Kimura-dono, please tell me why I am here again? You did not mention that this guy would be here."

"That's because I had gotten a message from our captain for the day that our other member wouldn't be able to show up here."

"He is having all...rough day."

"I do not know if that was suppose to be a pun or not... I will take it as such and cut you up now."

"Ah! Kanzaki-san, can you wait until you're in the battle to cut him up!? Or at least leave the building! We have to clean up any of the blood here!"

Kanzaki did not look over at the Tamakoma Operator as she grabbed her Trigger.

"Do not worry, Shiori-dono, I will make sure to make a clean cut that will keep the blood from leaving his body."

"Isn't that what pros usually say!? Can you do it!? Can you really do it!? In that case, I really want to see it now! Please, go ahead and do it!"

"Usami-senpai, please don't encourage her."

"Sorry~ I got a bit too excited for a moment. Yes. You can show me later, right, Kanzaki-san?"

"Of course. I will even use Inukai here as a target once more. You are fine with that, right?"

"What!? No, no, no! No way are you taking my generosity as an opportunity to chop me up into sashimi! At least wait until I've properly gotten a child with Shiro-chan!"

"Kanzaki-san, I will hold him down here. Please get your blade ready."

"Kiyo~~~"

Without thinking too much about what he was doing, Inukai tried to hide from the two women by hiding behind the strangely smiling Yuki.

Smile never leaving his face, Yuki allowed this to happen.

Only after a few seconds had passed did Inukai see his mistake.

"Alright now. Kanzaki, please don't miss or hit me. I'm relaying on you you cut him clean in half so that Shiro doesn't have to put up with is kind of behavior anymore."

"I will make sure not to cut you. Just make sure to hold him nice and tight."

While the idiots with nothing else to do continued their comedy routine, the others in the room went about doing as they pleased.

From his spot near the wall, as well as a good distance from Suzume, Hyuse looked over at Mikumo with an irritated expression. Whether that expression was because of the wait, the noise, or the fact Suzume continued grinning as she inched closer to him was a mystery.

"What exactly are we waiting for? We should just get this over with already."

Seeing his new teammate directing the question more to him than others, Mikumo turned to answer.

"Apparently we're waiting for one more person to show up."

"Yeah. We're waiting for Hoshi. It's odd for her of all people to keep others waiting like this, but I have no problems with it. The others don't seem to mind either."

Toby disregarded the small glare directed towards him from the new Attacker as he continued facing Kuga.

While it was true that no one but Hyuse seemed to mind the wait, it was also true that they had been waiting for a while now. It had already been ten or so minutes after the time they scheduled.

It was just a good thing that they did not have anything particular to do today.

* * *

Something that Taiyōko Hoshi could not understand was how she was late.

She ran in the direction of the Tamakoma Branch with a bag in hand.

It was around ten or so minutes after the time she was suppose to be there.

As she ran, she thought about the things she had done during the day to make her so late. The list wasn't too long, but she still did not understand how she was this late.

1) Wake up and go to Border HQ.

2) Help R&D for an hour or so

3) Talk to Waka-ku-

 _Is that really where I went wrong!? Had the time escaped me that much!? I thought we were only speaking for a few minutes! I didn't even notice that we were in a completely different area and that I was already_ five minutes late _!?_

All Hoshi could do at this point was cry internally as she ran towards the Tamakoma branch office.

Now Hoshi was a very fit girl. She could easily run a marathon in one of the top spot and end it without looking too tired or sweating too much. That was not an issue.

The real issue that she across was the fact that everything around her seemed to want to stop her from making it to Tamakoma.

If it wasn't a light never changing then it was an accident.

If it wasn't an accident then it was a crowd of people.

If it wasn't a crowd of people then it was around ten other things that just magically appeared.

Overall this was not a good thing for her.

 _I can at least apologize to them with this?_

Feeling the bag at her side, Hoshi let out a sigh of relief. The fact the bag was still there was all the reassurance she needed.

Although the did not mean she wasn't still ten or so minutes late.

* * *

"If you're getting that angsty about all of this then let's go. I'm always ready to a fight. Just make sure that you won't end up regretting it once we're done."

"There's no reason for me to show you all what I can do and give away my power."

"Hey, I'm giving the same the same thing here. I never have a reason to hold back, so you'll be well prepared for when we start."

It wasn't too hard to see the sparks clashing as the two Attackers glared at each other. While one narrowed his eyes, the other bared his fangs. It resembled two predators ready to attack at any moment.

Even so, most of the people there didn't seem too worried about it in the slightest.

The present members of Kotowari Squad looked at it like an everyday occurrence while the members if the quickly made Tsukiko Squad saw it more as little kids having a small spat. The only ones that seemed a bit bothered by this were the Captain-Shooter and Sniper of Tamakoma-2.

Mikumo knew that his new teammate would not be listening to him any time soon and so worried about what the outcome of this argument would be.

"Don't worry, Shishou, our pet won't hurt him...much. It all depends on how that guy response. For now, though, it looks like Tobio is just playing around a bit. Nothing too serious."

"He's right. Toby is energetic, but honestly not stupid. He knows when to pick fights and whatnot. If anything, he's honestly as irritated about waiting as Hyu-kyun over there."

From his spot over to the side, moving around Inukai and Kanzaki, Yuki smiled at his former team. The fact they were acting like this was enough for him to be happy.

Others seemed to notice his behavior since Murakami and Mei walked up to him.

Murakami said nothing, instead only patting his friend's shoulder and nodding his head.

Mei gave her own smile, knowing that Yuki felt the same way she did.

She opened her mouth to start speaking but was quickly cut off when a loud sound, a voice, and a scream were heard.

The three turned back to the conflict between Hyuse and Toby to see the former was not where he had been standing and the latter looked a bit terrified at this point. The reasons for that were unknown.

Once they turned to where Hyuse was they understood why the American was pale and his teammates were guiding Tamakoma-2 away from him.

"A-ah...?"

There, on the floor, was Hoshi. Laying on top of her was Hyuse, who, presumably, was thrown in that direction by Toby.

Mei looked over to see Murakami's face blank while Yuki had a very forced smile on his face.

Letting out a sigh, she grabbed both by the back of their clothes to hold them in place while she spoke to the ones on the ground.

"I suggest you get up right now. Hoshi, please help me with these two for a moment."

Quickly doing as he was told, Hyuse stood up.

With a keen eye, Mei was able to see some pink dusting his cheeks.

Hoshi quickly got up and dusted herself off. She gave a smile to the two being held by Mei, as if showing she was fine.

She turned to the others and gave a deep bow.

"I apologize for being so late. It was not my intention to be late. No excuse will be enough for it. I do hope these will help you all, though."

Taking the bag she had, Hoshi walked over to the table and laid multiple things on it.

"I wasn't too sure what to really get, so I got all kinds of things. There's chocolate-"

"Mine!"

"-dorayaki-"

"I've got those!"

"-as well as some taiyaki. And of course I have other things as well..."

She looked up to see most of them looking at what she had brought, and apparently forgiving her. What she also saw was Hyuse twitch a bit once she mentioned taiyaki.

Getting an idea, she picked up one of the taiyaki and walked over to him.

With a dazzling smile on her face she held it out towards Hyuse.

"Excuse me. Would you like some? As an apology for running into you just now."

Yuki, who had been off to the side shaking Toby like a rag doll, overheard this and gave a look towards Murakami.

Already knowing what to do, Murakami inched closer to Hoshi without seeming conspicuous.

"..."

Hyuse said nothing.

He gave a nod and took the taiyaki, pink still dusting his cheeks.

"Right, right, right! Now that Hoshi-chan is here, we can get started!" Inukai smiled as he spoke. "Since going by rank won't be too easy with our team being a mixed one, we'll do something more simple! Team Two will be Tamakoma, Team Two will be Kotowari Squad, Team Three will be Tsukiko Squad! Each captain will draw straws to see who gets to pick the location!"

"Shouldn't we give Taiyōko-dono some time to get settled? She just got here after all."

"Ah! It's fine! I'm ready to go whenever! Thank you, though, Kanzaki-san."

"Alright then. I've got the straws~"

Jin walked forward with three straws in hand. He waited for the three captains to walk forward and pick one.

The others watched on, not really seeming to care who actually picked.

"So this means we get to choose."

Mikumo spoke as he held up his straw.

"So each team will get three minutes to get themselves ready."

* * *

"With all the teams having four people we'll have more people against us. That being said, we can use those numbers to our advantage."

Mikumo looked over each member they had to fight against.

"Let's start with Kotowari Squad. Misaki-senpai is usually in charge of taking out the opposing Snipers, so you need to watch out, Chika. You need to make sure she doesn't get close enough for a hands-on fight. If you can, stall until one of us gets to you. Even then, stay close since her Side Effect will be an issue."

"Right."

"Taiyōko is more of their support. We need to watch out for her if we are fighting others. Also, try and keep away from her blade. She has that prototype Trigger. A weaker version of Fujin."

"Okay."

"Kotowari is strong at long range fights and can probably out strategize me on the spot, but close range is a weakness for him. Kuga, that's where you come in. With Grasshopper you can move around his attacks and get in close. Hyuse, of you can help there..."

"..."

"I'm fine with that. But, Osamu, what about Toby and Takaoto-san?"

"...? What does their Operator have to do with this?"

"Takaoto-san has a Side Effect that can rival Jin-san's foresight. Usami-senpai..."

"Right~"

Turning to her computer, Shiori brought up some screens that showed some parts of battles involving Kotowari Squad.

The videos all had someone of the team getting to an opponent that seemed too well hidden. It seemed like the opponent would choose a good spot to hide in but would get found out in little time.

"She has a Side Effect that let's her calculate anything she has information on in almost no time at all. She can calculate multiple things at once as well. What's more is that she is smart enough to know how every one of their opponents moves. Meaning..."

"Meaning she knows where it's most likely we would be."

"Right."

Turning back to the screens, Mikumo spoke about their plan once more.

"We can't do much about Takaoto-san. Even if we try and make sure she gets as little information as possible, she is still just an Operator and will always be able to do something. As for Awdry... Just watching him doesn't do much against _his_ Side Effect. Kuga, what do you think would be best against him?"

"Hm~... His Side Effect is heightened reflexes, so he doesn't even have to think about where his opponent is or what they are doing. His body moves on its own, and he usually keeps up with me. It's hard to touch him, but it's possible."

"Didn't they say in one of the matches that if Awdry-senpai is under enough pressure that he can be hit?"

"That's right. When they were going against Ninomiya Squad."

Mikumo gave a small hum and nodded his head. He turned to look towards Hyuse, unsure if he would listen.

"Trapping him in my wires would be a good idea. Hyuse, if we can't do that you should try and work with Tsukiko to handle him."

"Fine. I need to settle the score with him anyways."

"Right," Mikumo said with a nod. "So next is Tsukiko Squad."

"I can help more with that!"

Shiori brought up some more screens. This time it showed the different squad members with their respective squads. Some showed Yuki back when he was the captain if the current Kotowari Squad.

"Yuki isn't in the current B-Rank Wars since he was promoted to A-Rank and disbanded his squad. These are old stuff from before. He said that he will go back to using Kōgetsu for the match and not use Idōgetsu."

"Thank you. We have fought against Murakami-senpai and Inukai-senpai before, so we can prepare. The only other issue is..."

* * *

"I think you should take on Kanzaki-san."

Takeshi looked over Toby as he pointed to the screen that showed the older girl with a blade.

Toby crossed his arms.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea. At least not alone. My SE won't do much with the way she launches Senku like she has a gun. That's too much pressure for me to handle. I would need help from someone like Yuma or you. Obviously that's not going to happen since I'm sure Osamu is planning on taking me out quickly while you'll be dealing with him."

"I would honestly help, but Chika-chan and her Lead Bullets are honestly something I need to take of right away."

"No, no. You're fine, Senpai. You're job is always to take out the Snipers. Maybe we could... Shishou is probably try and lure you into his wires... Mei-san, if he does end up there, could you try and pinpoint where every wire is so that he could use that to his advantage?"

"Of course."

"Great. Alright. Toby, if you do end up finding Kanzaki-san then I want you to bring her into the wires as well. That way one of two things will happen; she will either cut them all for you or she will be trapped as well."

"Got it."

"Senpai has Amatori marked. Toby has Kuga and Kanzaki-san marked. I will be going after Shishou. ...I don't like that. We are focusing too much on Tamakoma. That was my bad..."

"Uh... I have a suggestion..."

Everyone turned to Hoshi.

"Why don't I take Toby's place? I will lure Kanzaki-san into the wires and handle Kuga-kun. With her use of Senku and my Fujin, those wire shouldn't be too much trouble. That way Toby can go after one of the others. Although... I really don't think I can handle both Kanzaki-san and Kuga-kun... I may lose us a point... N-nevermind what I said! Please continue on!"

"Wait... You have something there. Yuki-san is going to be trouble enough, so I'd rather have Toby deal with him instead. That way Yuki-san's Side Effect won't be much use. What's more, while you and Kanzaki-san are taking down the wires, you can make _our trap_. I'm sorry if this is rude, but you may indeed end up as a sacrifice."

"That's fine! I-I'm fine with that!"

"Alright. Thank you."

Mei smiled as she looked on at the four.

It truly was nice to see them working together like this. It felt much more natural than having them argue in the slightest.

"You know," she started, "there was always that thing Yuki would say."

* * *

"Unpredictably is always an asset as well as an issue."

Yuki moved his fingers across the screen, sliding over the pictures of the other two teams.

"I know it's not how nay if you do things, but I at least know my former team well enough to know that things will change instantly."

"Always come up with a plan, stick to the plan, prepare for the plan to change, toss away the plan and do as you please. That's the gist of it, right?"

"See? You get it, Kou."

"Sadly..."

Ignoring his friend's demeanor, Yuki looked over at the other three.

"Kanzaki, you should head for Toby, Kuga, or Hyuse. From what Shobu told us, Hyuse can keep up with Tatsuhito, so you would be best to deal with him. Suzu will be going after Amatori, so everyone just has to make sure not to get hit by her. Take will most likely head for Mikumo so they won't have to worry about the wires. Haru, I want you to keep tabs on Suzu. Kou, you should get Hoshi."

"And you?"

"I'll be going after the one Kanzaki doesn't. I'm fine against any one of them, so I'm flexible."

"Let Suzume hear you say that and you'll end up as the cover of her next doujinshi."

"Alright then. Shall we get started?"

The others in the room only nodded their heads.

They all knew that nothing had to be said. It was a simple thing that they had been done multiple times already. This was just another match. The only difference was that they had different teammates.

* * *

While the new Tamakoma-2 got ready to face off against new opponents, the reconstructed Kotowari Squad got ready to take everyone on.

While the reconstructed Kotowari Squad got ready to take everyone on, the quickly made Tsukiko Squad got ready to throw their plans away.

While the quickly made Tsukiko Squad got ready to throw their plans away, the new Tamakoma-2 got ready to face off against new opponents.

It may not have been an official match, but each team was determined to win.

And so began the fight.

"Transportation complete. Area: Cityscape."

* * *

Midorikawa Shun was bored. That was official.

He wanted to play around but that was an issue when both Kuga and Toby were busy with their scheduled match against each other.

He found it a bit unfair that he wasn't invited to at least watch, but figured that head could just go to Tamakoma any time to see the match.

Still, it was completely unfair for them to leave him out of the fun!

"I guess I could go find those two instead."

Letting out a sigh, Midorikawa started his search for Yoneya and Izumi, maybe they would play with him.

"Oh, Midorikawa. It's good that I found you."

Hearing his name being called, the A-Rank turned around to see a girl walking up to him.

The girl wasn't someone he had talked to all that much, but he at least knew her and her name.

 _With how much Toby's been going on about her, there's no way I_ can't _know her name._

"Kōchō? Did you need something from me?"

"Do you know where Awdry is? I figured that you of all people would know."

Midorikawa now knew what it felt like. He now knew exactly what it felt like for a younger siblings to get jealous that their older brother had a girlfriend he would rather spend time with instead of him.

It hit him like a truck, but having been asked that question was what got Midorikawa feeling the despair only a siblings could feel. And he wasn't even related to Toby!

"Ah... I don't know where Toby is. I've been looking for him myself."

"Oh. Why don't we look together? He wasn't answering his phone, so I have to ask around."

There really was no ill intent in Kōchō Kashi's words, which made Midorikawa that much more irritated.

Before the two could get anywhere, they overheard a nearby conversation.

Maybe it wasn't a good habit to listen in on other conversations, but this concerned their current goal.

.

"If they needed another team then they could have come to us."

"That's how I felt! After the great match I had with Kotowari you would think they would invite us to be a part of their match!"

Okudera could only sigh as he watched his teammate fume over the fact that neither Tamakoma-2 or Kotowari Squad had invited them to be a part of their match.

The person in front of them seemed a bit miffed by this as well.

Asano Eri crossed her arms as she thought about how her fellow Shooters didn't seem to think about asking her squad to join in. It would have been goo practice for all three of them. A win-win-win situation.

She would remember to get one of her teammates to irritate them later on as payback.

"You two _do_ realize that Tsukiko-senpai had just thought of it on the spot. I'm pretty sure that even those two teams didn't think of adding a third team into the mix. Especially ones who qualify for A-Rank, who are A-Rank and who once were A-Rank."

"Yeah, but now I'm irritated that they get to fight those kinds of people! Yuki-senpai and Kanzaki-san _never_ go one-on-one! They seem even more busy than ever, so we really don't get that kind of chance! Besides, how much fun would it be to go against Kotowari Squad _and_ Tamakoma!?"

"Getting in practice like that is always good. I'm with him on this one. It's unfair of them to do that without considering others."

"Can't we just have our squads go against each other if you two are so irritated by this."

"Great idea!"

"I was kidding..."

Okudera could only shake his head at his teammates energetic answer.

 _Really now... Hm? What are those two doing?_

From the corner of his eye he saw something that was a bit odd.

.

"More like this~!"

"Like...this?"

"No, no, no! Like _this_! Come on. You're rockin' the megane look, so you need it properly pull it off."

Wakamura Rokuro wasn't sure how or why but here he was, trying out different poses with Satori Ken of Arashiyama Squad. He could see The True Hero Miura off to the side, not sure about what to do.

 _To be fair...I really don't know what to really do right now either..._

The only thing he could remember about this situation was that Satori had gone up to him, asking about how things were getting along with Hoshi. There had been some teasing, which quickly lead up to Satori trying to teach him how to use his charms to make sure Hoshi wouldn't leave him.

He wasn't sure if Satori was trying this out for himself or really trying to help him.

What he _was_ sure of was that Narasaka Tōru from Miwa Squad was walking up to them with an irritated look.

"Do either of you know where Misaki is?"

"Sorry~ I don't know~"

It was plain to see that Satori knew and seemed to be rubbing it in his fellow Sniper's face.

Wakamura didn't want to know what that was about.

Not wanting to deal with an irritated Narasaka, he decided to just tell him what he knew.

"I've been told that Kotowari Squad was going to have an unofficial match with Tamakoma today. Misaki's probably there for that."

"Tsk. That woman... I make some time to help her after she asks me too and she does this."

Once again, a sniper seemed to be rubbing something into the face of another sniper. This time it was Narasaka, who looked a bit smug, rubbing that fact in the face of Satori, who looked a bit annoyed.

Not wanting to show his irritation, Satori gave a dazzling smile as he spoke.

"If you're so annoyed with her, why don't you just let me train her instead?"

"That won't work. After all, she said that _I was the only one who could help her._ "

"That was a boost to your ego that you didn't need."

Wakamura started to slowly back away from the two snipers who seemed to want to "help" the same person.

That was also around the time he started thinking that it was a bad idea to bring her up at all.

* * *

To any Kōgetsu user it was natural to have the heavier blade at the ready.

For Yuki it felt a bit odd to have a blade at his his once more.

When he had been promoted to A-Rank he had been given the special Trigger known as Idōgetsu. That had been what he would use in every battle after getting it. It's what he had used to defeat Pyr of Aftokrator, Sanshū from the Wanderers, Kigisa of Galpoula, as well as his #1 enemy - Ninomiya Masataka.

Not having his best weapon with him made him feel odd, as well as heavier.

Idōgetsu had weighed as much as any Scorpion blade, but gained weight once it went into one if it's many forms. With Kōgetsu never changing shape, it made Yuki feel a bit slower.

 _I suppose I'll just have to deal with it. It shouldn't be an issue to begin with._

Letting out a small sigh, he continued to run throughout the shadows of buildings with Bagworm on. He made sure to stay hidden from plain sight and would always look around just in case.

 _It looks like everyone is wearing Bagworm right now. Not much of an issue, I guess. The real issue is who is going to be finding who first._

Shaking his head, Yuki looked around once again.

"Alright. Someone needs to show themselves it get things started. I vote Haru."

 _"I second that."_

 _"No problems with that."_

 _"Why are you three going after me!? Kimura-chan! Please help me out here!"_

 _"So who do you think will go for you first?"_

 _"WAH~! So mean! I'm telling Shiro-chan on all of you!"_

 _"Just get going already!"_

Yuki smiled at the odd banter they all had.

" _Yuki, look out. Something's come at you from your right."_

Turning it the direction he was told, Yuki kicked up one of his shoes.

The shoes quickly fell to the ground once hit by the thing going towards Yuki. The thing that hit it turned out to be a shot. A Lead Bullet shot.

 _So Amatori found me._

.

" _Chika-chan, run! You really need to get away now!"_

Listening to her Operator, Amatori jumped from the building she had been on. She only had a few seconds after being shot before Shiori had started yelling to her.

Now she understood why that was.

There, in front of her, was Yuki. He had his blade ready to cut her up. The only thing that had stopped him was the powerful Shield she had out up without much though.

There was just one issue.

"Teleport."

Yuki was gone in an instant.

He reappeared right behind Amatori, Kōgetsu once again ready to strike her down.

Now knowing that he had Teleport, Amatori put a Shield around her whole body as Yuki continued to strike it.

The two landed on the ground. Amatori tried to run away to the best if her ability, but that meant nothing when her opponent simply needed to look at where he wanted it he before appearing at that spot.

She had tried to shoot him with her Lead Bullet Hound, but he moved far too quickly and a accurately for her to land a hit.

" _His #1 enemy is Ninomiya-san, so Shooter-type Trigger won't work!_ "

Knowing that all she could do was keep her Shield up whole running, Amatori did her best to get away.

" _Get ready to run away._ "

Hearing the new voice come through her ear, Amatori did as she was told.

She didn't look back as she ran forward. Once she took a single step forward, there Yuki was.

Before he could strike her defense again, someone else had come up from the side to attack. That person had gotten Yuki's attention and ended up pushing him back a bit.

Seeing Hyuse move Yuki away was a relief to Amatori. She had thought about helping him out here, but remember that he had told her to run away.

That was a much smarter choice.

* * *

Yuki watched as Amatori started to run away once more.

He turned towards her and quickly vanished from where he stood.

He appeared behind her, but was stopped once again by the same blade as before.

 _So he won't let me get to her, huh? I guess that's more a point for Suzu to get than for me. That Shield was a bit irritating anyways. It's best if I just focus on my current opponent. This guy was able able to keep up with Tatsuhito after all._

Knowing how strong the captain of the current #3 B-Rank was, Yuki got ready for a tough battle.

Jumping back a bit, Yuki got some distance and sized up his opponent.

He lowered his stance a bit as he got ready to attack.

With one hard push Yuki sped towards Hyuse with his blade ready. He turned his eyes slightly to the right.

.

Seeing Yuki look more to the right, Hyuse leaned towards his left and got ready to strike back.

 _Such a simple trick._

Once he turned around he went a bit wide eyed when all he saw was a shoe coming towards his face.

 _Crap!_

There was no time for him to turn back around before Yuki could teleport behind him. He knew that he would have to sacrifice a limb if he wanted to move away from the high-speed teleporter.

Deciding on what he wanted to get cut off, Hyuse started moving forward with his right foot.

"-"

A a strange sound was heard as Hyuse took his first step.

Something had landed on his right foot while something went towards his face as something went passed his side.

He brought up his blade to stop the thing that had been towards his face.

.

Yuki moved to the side as a small blade went for his face.

It was easy to guess that Toby had appeared with his own Teleport and went to attack to two of them.

Using his own Trigger, Yuki appeared behind Yuki, who was in front if Hyuse, and quickly moved his blade to slice the two in half.

 _He really did improve._

Yuki smiled a bit when he saw Toby twist his body around so that his leg would swat Yuki's Kōgetsu away while also getting a got hit on Hyuse before teleporting away.

" _I guess you don't hold the title of Best Teleporter for nothing then._ "

 _"No many people use Teleport to begin with. But it's true that I'm still the best at it._ "

" _Can you at least tone down the arrogance when you say that?_ "

.

Hyuse moved away from the two teleporters and clicked his tongue.

 _"How did that happen? There was no way he wouldn't appear instead of his shoe. His whole body would have had to appear if he just left it there."_

" _Since the distance was so short so was the cool down time. Be careful. Not many people use Teleport, but Yuki is by far the best at using it. He knows how to use it to the best of its abilities. Even someone like Kazama-san would have trouble actually catching him._ "

Hyuse didn't answer back.

He lifted his left hand a bit to get ready to attack.

 _"Then all I need to do is-...!?"_

Hyuse was surpsied to see two things on his hand that weren't there before. The first was an image of a wolf's head. The second was the image of a snowflake.

Not waiting to see what they could do, he cut off his glove and tossed it to the side before jumping to the other side.

 _"What were those?"_

 _"Those were markers that Toby and Yuki put. They are teleport markers, so it's best not to get any on your body."_

Hyuse said nothing else and just looked around at his two opponents.

Both had Triggers he was not use to dealing with. That meant it would be hard for him to fight.

This was where he needed assistance. He didn't like to hear that, but he knew it was the truth.

* * *

 _So Hyuse is facing off against Awdry and Tsukiko-senpai..._

Putting his hand to his ear, Mikumo spoke.

Around him were multiple wires set up to ensnare their opponents. Only his own team was able to see them.

And yet that fact still didn't put him at ease.

"Chika, are you still around the area Hyuse is fighting in?"

 _"Yes. I can see them from here."_

"Alright. I want you to back him up."

 _"Right!"_

Mikumo turned in a different direction and started speaking once more.

"Kuga, how are you doing?"

 _"I was able to get Taiyōko and Kanzaki-san to follow me. But I'm have some trouble keeping up with Kanzaki-san. I don't think it's a good idea to bring her to the wires."_

That was a major issue.

If their opponents could not be stopped by the wires then that would mean he would have to fight.

If the opponent was able to overpower Kuga that much then that would mean he would not stand a chance.

So that meant there was one other option.

"Alright. Kuga, bring them over here. We'll continue on with the plan. It may not be the people we want, but points are points."

 _"Got it."_

Mikumo looked over his wires and got to work once more.

 _If we can't catch them in the wires then we just have to use that destruction to our advantage._

* * *

Takeshi leaned against a building as he listened in to what his squad's Operator was telling their main Attacker.

Around his head were three green orbs of Trion. These were what he would use to fire laser-like beams of Trion instead of normal shots.

 _So Toby will have to work with Tamakoma to take out Yuki-senpai while Hoshi is following Kuga towards the wires. Suzume-senpai should be heading over to take out Amatori. So that just leaves..._

Takeshi looked around and saw nothing particular with the area he was in.

 _Only two other-_

"!?"

In only a few seconds Takeshi was filled with multiple holes before being cut in half.

His upper-body flew threw the air while Murakami could be seen with his Kōgetsu in his right hand. Inukai was off to the side, gun raised.

.

"Too easy..."

Murakami quickly brought up his Raygust to block the two laser-like beams headed for him.

He took a quick glance to the side to see that the spot where Takeshi had been standing was now occupied by a talking ribbon.

 _Zanzō._

Already knowing that his defense would not last long against the Laser-Shooter, Murakami started running off to the side. He saw Inukai do the same.

If it was any other Shooter or Gunner then going into the building behind them would have been an option. The fact that it was Takeshi made that option a bad one that could let him take them out.

He was already at a disadvantage against a long-range fighter, this just made things worse for him.

 _I got too ambitious. Even with Inukai, I should have known this wouldn't be that easy. Maybe Kiyoshi's arrogance it rubbing off on me._

There was no point in dwelling on what was done. Now he had to find a way to work around what he had caused.

" _Taking him from two side sounds good."_

 _"Do you really think we would be fast enough to dodge those lasers though? If he keeps Bagworm on then he will only be able to fire three at a time, but if he decides not to hide then he could make that into five or six."_

 _"Guess you're right~... So what do we do?"_

That was the question Murakami was still trying to answer.

Both Yuki and Kanzaki were busy on other battlefields, so this was left up to them. They would need to find a way around this opponent. One he was at a disadvantage against.

As he thought about what to do he noticed something interesting.

 _We could use those to our advantage..._

* * *

Yuki had to admit that this was a challenging fight.

He continued to weave through the pincher attacks that Toby and Hyuse were making while also having to dodge the Lead Bullet Shots coming from different places.

Whenever he would move around one of Hyuse's attacks, there would be Toby with his Scorpion blades.

Whenever he would move around Toby with his Scorpion blades, there would be a Lead Bullet ready to hold him down.

Whenever he would move around a Lead Bullet ready to hold him down, there would be one of Hyuse's attacks.

What made the situation worse for him was the fact that Toby was keeping up with his teleporting while both Toby and Hyuse were making sure that a marker wasn't placed on them.

He did notice that even if they were targeting him that they were still going after each other.

He had been able to use that against them and take off some of Toby's fingers as well as get a slash at Hyuse's side.

.

Yuki brought up Shield to block the strike that was aimed for his head while simultaneously bringing up his blade to deal with the strike from the other side.

He turned his wrist so that the blade was at an angle. The opposing Kōgetsu easy slide off the side of his blade, giving him enough room to kick up a tile from the building they were on.

The tile quickly fell to the ground with a loud sound.

It's was a bit difficult to move around the three attacks, but he managed well enough.

He turned his body completely around while Hyuse was still getting centered again from being moved away.

"-"

Before his blade to make contact a large wall appeared from the ground, blocking him from Hyuse.

Three more walls came up around him, creating a wall with only one opening.

.

 _That should make things easier for the moment._

Hyuse got ready to attack from the opening he had left at the top of the wall keeping Yuki away from them. It didn't give Amatori any room to fire her Lead Bullets, but that would be easier done when Yuki would come out from the only opening.

"!"

Hyuse heard the small noise that was made when teleporting and got ready to attack.

It took him a few seconds to realize something was wrong. That was most likely due to the fact that he didn't notice that those few seconds were suppose to involve Yuki appearing in the air.

Instead of what he landed, Hyuse looked over to see his arm flying through the air as Yuki turned his body around on one foot.

Once realizing that he was missing an arm, Hyuse quickly jumped back while a shot went passed where he had been standing.

Seeing Yuki dodging all of the shots being fired from his team's Sniper, Hyuse rushed in with his blade at the ready. From the corner of his eye he could see Toby run forward as well.

.

It really was an amazing sight to see.

Yuki, apparently with ease, continued to twist and turn his body to dodge the attacks from the three blades aimed right at him. At times he would jump into the air or duck to dodge as well.

With a bit more issue he was able to tell where a shot by a sniper was coming from and kick something up to block the shot and make sure the Lead Bullet would not touch him in the slightest.

What's more was that he would use the weighted object to his advantage by tossing it towards his two opponents to distract them and land his own attacks.

This was A-Rank.

Both Hyuse and Toby understood exactly how well A-Ranks were now.

Hyuse had gone up against Border's #6 and #1 Attackers already. He was even with the #6 but only managed a single, lucky win against the #1. This was far different from that time though.

The difference in fighting style was not something he was prepared for.

While the #1 was more for power, and only used a single Trigger, this A-Rank was much more agile and flexible. He used multiple Triggers, most of the time seeming as if he was using them all at once.

On the other hand, Toby now understood exactly why his former captain had made the diction he had weeks ago.

The decision to disband his team.

With this skill, there was no doubt that the former Tsukiko Squad would have been able to make it to A-Rank. The issue with that was that it would rest mostly on Yuki's shoulders at that point.

Here he was, fighting against Yuki while he did not even have his personalized Trigger, and losing while getting some support by another team. He had managed to land a few cuts here and their, but otherwise has yet to do much to Yuki.

The only thing the two frontline fighters thought was that they were making Yuki use up his Trion.

Even then they were also using up their Trion.

* * *

 _She really is deserving of A-Rank..._

That was the single thought that ran through both Kuga and Hoshi's mind as Kanzaki tore through yet another building and attacked both head on.

They had been trying to hold her off while also bringing her towards the wires set up by Mikumo. That was much easier said than done.

Her speed and power were definetly something to be admired. The skills she had to wield her blade with such precision and ferocity was something that kept both Kuga and Hoshi at bay. They did not want to get within her range.

And if they did not get in her range then she would drag them closer.

The closer to her blade they got, the more defensive they got.

Even the long-range attacks Hoshi tried failed miserably against this woman with a blade.

This was far different than what either one had faced before.

It was if they were facing off against someone far above their level.

.

 _"Kuga, just a bit more. I'm done over here."_

 _"Okay."_

Already knowing what was going to happen, Kuga got ready to attack at any moment. It was obvious that he had to he careful when doing so, but that was fine with him. As long as this point was theirs.

It was not an official match, true, but he knew that everyone involved thought of it as such. This was a serious fight that they wanted to win. This would help every one of them in some way or another.

Using your opponents, help your opponents, team up with your opponents.

Anything could be learned from this.

There were many types of people in Border, and in the B-Rank Wars, but that did not mean some of them had the same personalities as others. That fact would lead to future victories for them.

So if they win this, they have a good chance to win later on.

That meant he would help to win this match, official or not.

Kuga continued to jump from rooftop to rooftop, making sure his two opponents were following him.

Their plan to use the wires Mikumo set up was obvious. Since it was so obvious they would use it to their advantage.

 _Just a bit more._

As he thought that, Kuga turned around.

"-!"

He quickly brought up a Fullguard to block the blade headed for his neck.

The wielder moved back after their failed attack.

She placed her sword back into its scabbard.

This was the moment when multiple things happened.

.

The moment Kanzaki put Kōgetsu back into its scabbard once of her opponents appeared right in front of her with her blade already drawn.

Kanzaki moved back only to be followed by Hoshi.

She continued to move back from one building to another while dodging the sword swings.

The sword swings were not as refined as Kanzaki's but they were quick and precise in their movements. Each time she would go for her sword one of the swings would mess her up, stopping her from drawing her own blade.

She jumped back once more and was met with a smaller blade going for her arm.

She twisted her body and spun on her leg as the two blades went for her.

She used her lifted leg to kick the Kōgetsu upwards by hitting the arm holding it while also using her back to lift her albino opponent a bit into the air.

Using the single moment she had, she grabbed the hilt of her sword and drew it.

A flash.

A single flash turned into seven.

The seven flashes went for the two opponents.

The two opponents tried to block as much as they could. They only had a few seconds to come up with something.

In the albino's case he covered himself in a Shield while moving back.

In the girl's case she used her ribbons of light to block some of the flashes while also cutting up the roof they were standing on.

Not being able to hold all three of them anymore, the roof collapsed, causing all three to start falling.

The fall meant nothing to Kanzaki as she moved around.

It was easy to jump from one part of the roof to another without using anything like Grasshopper. Making sure not to put too much weight on what was being stepped on, Kanzaki was able to quickly jump from part to part while the other two continued to fall.

The fall overall was only a few seconds and a few feet down, but Kanzaki managed to gain enough momentum to end up in the air above the other two.

From her spot in the air she could see the two and grabbed her sword.

 _Senku._

The seven flashes flew vertically through the air, cutting through the smoke and debris lingering in the air.

She could not see if she had hit her targets.

She did notice something going towards her.

He placed a Grasshopper plate in the air and used it to escape the thing that was going towards her.

* * *

"Shoot. I missed. I'm honestly sorry, Hoshi-chan. I saw you were having some trouble and thought I could honestly help."

 _"It's quite alright, Suzume-senpai. I appreciate it. Although, not to sound rude, but you should focus more on Amatori-san. It's best if you take out Kiyo-nii then go for a quick by by taking out Amatori-san."_

Suzume let out a small sigh.

She knew her underclassman was right. Her job had always been to take out the Snipers of any opposing team, then provide backup for her own team.

No matter what she could not be blamed for trying to help Hoshi at this point. It was a bit overwhelming to see just how skilled Kanzaki was compared to them.

This was not time for that though! She had a job to do and she would get it done.

From her spot on a rooftop she could see both the fight between Yuki, Hyuse, and Toby continue on while also being able to get a glimpse at her target.

Now she just needed to make sure she was able to shoot her target once that particular fight was finished.

* * *

Takeshi moved on light feet as he dodged another sword strike.

He had already lost an arm and only managed to take off part of Inukai's side.

Close-range fights were not his specialty, and with the added gunfire provided it was a bit hard for him to do much without having to worry about an attack coming from somewhere else.

 _"Take, I can see your fight from my spot. Do you honestly want me to help you out real quick?"_

 _"Senpai, please focus on Amatori."_

 _"Don't worry. No one will honestly find my location if I help you out now."_

Takeshi scrunched up his eyebrows.

If she took a shot now then there was no doubt that someone would be able to find her. Kanzaki, Yuki, and Mikumo may be too busy to go after her, but he knew that either Murakami or Inukai would be able to get to her quickly.

But that would be an issue for them.

They both knew that going one-on-one with Takeshi right how was not a good idea. Their two point coverage was what was holding him back. If either one left at this point then they would score a point by taking out Suzume, but then lose a point because of Takeshi.

That was still not a chance he wanted to take.

 _"Senpai, it's fi-"_

 _"My Side Effect can honestly help."_

Takeshi mentally slapped himself once he remembered that when Yuki was still their captain that he was the only one without a Side Effect. With Hoshi now on the team instead of her brother that brought the number up by one.

Mei's Side Effect was good all around, but she was currently trying to help out Hoshi in dealing with Kanzaki.

Toby's Side Effect protected him from most attacks, but he could not do much when it came to protecting others with it.

Suzume's Side Effect was a useful one, and she could use it from her current location.

 _"Fine. Just make sure that you see every single motion he is going to make."_

 _"I honestly feel insulted right now. Do you really think so low of my Side Effect?"_

 _"..."_

 _"At least answer! Honestly... Fine. Get ready to move you body~"_

A twitch was felt.

Deciding to get back at her later, Takeshi did as he was told.

He started swaying a bit in place.

.

Murakami narrowed his eyes when he saw his opponent start swaying a bit in place.

 _"Why does this feel familiar~?"_

 _"It's Misaki's Side Effect. She can probably see us from her spot. Landing attacks will now be more difficult with her guiding him."_

 _"Just switch up your style. That way she'll have to find you move. Then you can take that chance and take him down."_

 _"It's not that easy..."_

Everyone had their own ways of doing things. Some ways may seem similar to other ways, but in the end there was always something different. When a person continued doing things a certain way it would stick with them.

Practice and training helped to grow a person's own style of doing things.

Trying to switch how he normally did things, especially at a time like this, was something Murakami knew he could not do.

Only one person could do that on the spot. And he was off on another battlefield.

As if wanting to prove his point to Inukai, he ran forward. He added an extra step to get to his target quicker, but it was pointless after all.

He swung his blade with quick and sharp movements, but Takeshi continued to dodge one after another. Each dodge looked more like some sort of odd dance move.

The close-range attack and dodge session looked more and more like a dance session as they continued on.

.

 _"I can't even shoot from here!"_

Inukai watched on as Murakami continued to attack and miss.

Inukai thought that would be the time to start shooting, but there was not a good enough opening for him.

He knew that Murakami was trying to make opening. The issue was that Takeshi cot unused to move as if using Murakami was a shield for the gunfire.

 _"Inukai, maybe you should just-"_

* * *

 **Bail Out.**

 **Bail Out.**

* * *

Kotowari Squad - 1 Point.

Tsukiko Squad - 1 Point.

* * *

"Wait, wait, wait! What!?"

Inukai quickly got up from the mat he had landed on. He raced over to the computer where Kimura was sitting at.

He saw her shoulders shaking.

"Are... Are you laughing at me!? So mean~"

Kimura covered her mouth while apologizing. It was clear to see that she was most certainly not sorry.

"What even happened?"

 _"You messed up. Obviously."_

"Why are you three being so mean to me today?"

"Suck it up. Anyways, what had happened was that you weren't paying attention to your surroundings."

"But Suzume didn't fire. I would have been prepared for it."

 _"It wasn't Misaki. It was Kotowari. While you were busy with something else he got you right in the head."_

 _"Nice going. Now you're leaving poor Kou by his lonesome self."_

 _"Get ready to get punished after this."_

"That's it! I'm not helping any of you ever again!"

 _"Liar."_

Kimura let out a sigh as he pushed Inukai away from the screen.

She turned back to the screen and pointed at two particular pictures.

"It's fine. Kanzaki-san was able to take out Taiyōko. We at least got a point as well."

Inukai gave a hum when he heard this. He wondered what Yuki would say.

 _"Good job Kanzaki."_

 _"Thank you."_

"Get over yourselves!"

* * *

"I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry! I'm really, really, really sorry!"

"It's fine."

Mei gave a light pat to Hoshi's bowed head.

Mei already knew that there was a high chance of Hoshi having to Bail Out because of her opponent. It had been calculated.

She knew how skilled Kanzaki was, so there was nothing wrong with the young girl losing to someone like that. Even with the help of Kuga it was already planned out.

"Just leave everything else to your teammates. You did well for who you were fighting against. Kanzaki can go up against Tachikawa and be fine, so there is no reason to feel bad about losing."

"But...I lost a point... Even after being as late as I was..."

Mei gave her a light flick before turning back to the screen.

"That is completely fine. You just need to practice more then. Simple."

* * *

 _That isn't good._

Kuga moved to the right as another set of seven slashes rushed towards him.

This was very much different than when he fought against Ikoma. Unlike then, this was multiple slashes heading towards him from different angles. The speed certainly rivaled that of Ikoma's but the attack itself was most certainly different.

He was close to the wires his captain had set up, but getting there was now an issue on its own.

It was hard to tell if getting Amatori's help or not would even make a difference. What's more was that she was across the battlefield. It would take her a while to reach him.

That meant he had to fight this woman by himself.

 _"Kuga, I'm heading towards you. Getting a bit closer and you'll be fine to use the wires. I'll provide as much support as possible."_

It was certainly reassuring to get some support, but that still did not mean they would be able to defeat her without some more loss.

Seeing another set of seven flashes go towards him, he brought up as much dense as he could.

On the sixth slash his defense broke.

He moved to the side so as to avoid the seventh slash. He only managed to dodge a portion of it, costing him an arm.

He used Grasshopper to go faster in the air.

She moved quickly and was catching up.

 _It's here!_

Seeing the wires his captain had set up, Kuga jumped down and used the wires to move around.

He gave a short glance back to see the seven flashes cut down each wire.

Then it happened.

* * *

From his spot on the roof, Yuki saw some glints a bit away.

 _Are they trying it get my attention by showing me where they are?_

As he continued to maneuver around the two close-range fighters he couldn't hell but notice these glints appear bit he area where a few Lead Bullet shots had been fired.

Deciding not to bother with them, he turned back to the two who were currently going for another pincer attack.

They had managed to get multiple hits on him, but they had done so at the cost of their own bodies.

 _"Yuki, try not to stalk this out any longer. You're facing off against two people with a good amount of Trion while being fired at by someone with Black Trigger levels of Trion. If you can take one of them out then do so already."_

With a sigh, Yuki agreed.

He ran a hand through his hair, putting it behind his ear.

He saw Toby tense up a bit and mentally nodded at the Attacker's awareness of what was happening.

Yuki was going for the kill.

 _Here I come._

With that mental note, Yuki rushed towards Hyuse with his sword held in a reverse grip.

He was stopped by a wall coming up from the ground.

That didn't matter to him, though, since he quickly disappeared from his spot to reappear behind Hyuse.

With a wall behind him, Hyuse brought up his sword to block.

Being the person he was, Yuki purposefully missed the opposing blade by an inch.

A cube of Trion appeared right in front of Hyuse as the blade went passed him.

Multiple shots crossed the small space.

With only a few seconds, Hyuse brought down the walk behind him while also bringing up one in front of him.

A few shots made it through.

Yuki already knew what was coming up next and continued to spin before clashing blades with Toby.

He pushed the Attacker back and bent down while bringing his leg up.

He kicked up Hyuse's arm with his leg before spinning on his foot to kick up another tile.

In an instant, multiple things happened. The next few seconds were rapid ones that only those in the moment could properly see.

Forcing their bodies to move forward, Toby and Hyuse attacked while Yuki was still on one leg and more on the defensive.

Yuki, not being one to be surprised by such an obvious attack, quickly brought his down before jumping into the air.

Now above the two, he threw his sword as if it was a spear. The sword easily went through Hyuse's head.

Once he landed, he grabbed the sword and spun around, cutting Toby in half.

Noticing something coming towards him, he grabbed Toby's upper-body, which was falling, and used him to take the Lead Bullet hit.

After the shot was fired, four lights shot through the air.

* * *

 **Bail Out.**

 **Bail Out.**

 **Bail Out.**

 **Bail Out.**

* * *

Kotowari Squad - 2 Point.

Tsukiko Squad - 2 Points.

* * *

"GAAAAH! Noooooo! Sorry, guys! I thought I could at least take Yuki out!"

 _"Aren't you getting a bit too arrogant now?"_

 _"We'll I honestly got us some points, so it's fine. You helped in that. If that honestly makes you feel any better."_

Toby continued to cry out while shaking his head.

No one gave him too much attention. Except Hoshi. She was just trying to calm him down.

Mei continued to focus on the two remaining members of her team.

She already knew this would happen, so it did not matter to her. There was absolutely no way she could not know about her own boyfriend's skill at this point. It would be an insult to him if she did not know.

He was always ones for tricks, feints, quick movements, and sneak attacks. Facing off against such straightforward people was easy for him since he fought with completely different rules than them.

"Damn. And I thought I was at least at his level with Teleport by now."

"You still have a good ways to go before you can reach his level, Toby. He has much more experience than any one of you do, so don't feel too bad about it."

 _"Mei-san, please don't try and sugarcoat things. Toby, just honestly think of this whenever you're fighting from now on. Know how much you suck and honestly get over it. You're still the best at using it among the four of us, so honestly shut up."_

"Fine, fine. Just get to helping out Take already. If Sukuu gets to him after taking care of Yuma and Osamu than that means you'll still have to deal with her and Kou."

Hoshi was amazed by the whole discussion she was hearing.

She knew that Toby would be able to get over this lose easily, but she did not expect for Suzume to speak in such a manner to him, or for him to be fine with it. It really seemed like an older sister speaking to her younger brother. And she knew exactly what that looked like.

This made her feel a bit out of place.

She was given a knowing look by Mei and understood what it meant.

 _I am still a part of this team._

* * *

 _"Tsukiko-senpai really is amazing."_

 _"Kuga, we need to score some points now. There are two members or each team out still, so we have a chance."_

 _"Right."_

 _"Kotowari seems to be heading towards us with Murakami-senpai. Misaki-senpai is probably following them. So we just need to hold off until they get here."_

That was much easier said than done.

This has been a one-sided fight almost the entire time.

Kuga continued to dodge. With no opening being found yet, attacking was very difficult. All he could do was defend at this point.

The wires Mikumo had set up were already cut down and the Asteroid traps he had set up were being used up while managing to only tear her clothes a bit.

Overall, to anyone watching, it was most certainly one-sided.

Using the falling buildings to his advantage, Kuga moved to circle around Kanzaki and head towards the direction Takeshi and Murakami were at.

It seemed to work as well since Kanzaki was nowhere to be seen.

 _"Alright. It's better if we take out Murakami-senpai right now then all go for Kanzaki-san. If you can, get those two points for us."_

Kuga had already been planning on taking those two points. So far their team was the only one without a single point, so this mattered a lot.

Even if it was not an official match, there was still pride on the line.

.

Kuga continued to run until he saw the three laser-like beams flying in the air. And destroying the surrounding buildings.

 _Getting that point is going to be a bit difficult..._

Seeing the opposing team's Sniper jumping rooftop to rooftop, an idea came to mind.

 _"Osamu, I'm going to go after Suzume-senpai. That way we won't have to worry about shots later on."_

 _"That's fine. Try an hurry, though. Kanzaki-san is quickly making her way towards you guys. I'll be ready with the wires."_

Having been given the order, Kuga jumped down to the ground and made his way over to where he saw Suzume.

He did not have to worry about being found out by Radar since he had on Bagworm. All he had to worry about was being spotted by her. That was why he was sticking to the shadows of the buildings.

He could still see the laser-like beams flying throughout he air and wanted to know what the current situation was, but he already had a task he needed to accomplish.

* * *

Suzume looked through the scope of her special sniping Trigger.

She had finished figuring out the best way she could use it with Hoshi when they had discussed it a few days ago. It was still a prototype, but that gave her more of a reason to use it right now.

The appearance of it look rather odd with a more rectangular middle and a thin muzzle. The end of it looked more like an Ibis and it was colored gray. It looked like it weighed a good amount, but Suzume held it as if it weighed nothing.

She did have the other sniping Triggers ready at a moments notice though.

 _"Senpai, I just saw Kuga run by. Be careful."_

"No need to tell me that. I'm honestly ready."

Taking a breath, Suzume fired a shot at Murakami before turning around.

She quickly moved to the side, as if dancing around the attack aimed at her.

She saw Kuga moving around with Grasshopper and started swaying in her spot.

Putting away her sniping Trigger and Bagworm, Suzume brought out two Scorpion blades. Unlike how she usually had them, these two blades were held in her hands instead of wrapped around her fingers.

"Looks like we get that rematch now Suzume-senpai."

The two started their dance.

Suzume easily moved to the side when Kuga rushed towards her.

Kuga continued to move at a fast pace by using Grasshopper or just his general speed, but Suzume continued to dodge each and every attack. Each step she took seemed more and more like dancing than actual dodging.

At some point she had started moving her middle finger around while dodging and managed to stab him a few times.

It did not help that he was already missing an arm.

 _Just have to increase my speed a bit._

With that thought in mind, Kuga ran forward.

Before reaching Suzume he placed a Grasshopper plate on the ground and used that to move around her. He came up from behind and managed to hit her head off.

In doing so he got stabbed in his single arm.

* * *

 **Bail Out.**

* * *

Tamakoma-2 - 1 Point.

* * *

Takeshi knew he was the last one of his team who was still fighting. That meant it was completely up to him to score them a few more points.

He let out a sigh as he continued to block strike while also firing his laser-like beams at Murakami.

He had managed to out Murakami's Raygust and arm, but that was all.

It was obvious that Murakami had studied how he moved to be able to dodge so much and so well.

Not minding it too much, Takeshi continued to keep his distance while using up his Trion.

He had been told that Kanzaki was heading towards them while Kuga and Mikumo were doing the same. That meant he had to take out Murakami right here and right now if he wanted to face off against the other three with a good amount of Trion available.

The main issue was how to do so when his opponent seemed to be stalling for the other three to make their way over to this battle.

 _I was hopping not to do this... So irritating._

Stopping where he was, Takeshi fired one laser-like beam before running towards Murakami.

He could see the surpsie on the Attacker's face as he continued to run.

 _So Toby said to just keep track of his movement and pick the right time... It's a simple move so I'm sure even I can do it..._

Once he was in range, Takeshi lowered his body a bit.

He saw Murakami start to swing his sword to attack.

He waited for a few second before moving in the direction the sword was being swung.

His movement mirrored the sword's, making him slide behind Murakami.

In one quick motion he grabbed Murakami's wrist while using his other arm to wrap around his neck.

 _Viper!_

Multiple shots flew the air and pierced through Murakami's body. The shots turned upwards before making sharp turns and going through Murakami's body once again.

Cracks started appearing on Murakami's body, signaling that he was going to Bail Out.

"-"

Before he could turn into the flying light, Kuga appeared before the two and cut them both in half.

"Crap..."

Two lights flew through the air.

* * *

 **Bail Out.**

 **Bail Out.**

* * *

Tamakoma-2 - 2 Points.

* * *

 _"Kuga, bail out! Now! Kanzaki-san is almost within your radius!"_

"Bail Out!"

It was too late at that point.

The monster known as Kanzaki was already within the area. That meant there was no way Kuga could escape this fight.

Could see that Mikumo was also close by and was going to tell him to get out if the area so the opposing team could hit get another point, except...

"Tsk."

Kanzaki was already above him, sending seven flashes in his direction.

The moment she landed on the ground he rushed towards her while she did the same to him.

He could not land a hit on her.

She had taken his other arm.

There really was no way he could win at this point.

There was only one good thing about this.

 _Now she can't get another point after this._

Kuga thought this as he saw a light fly through the air.

He could do bitching as Kanzaki rushed forward and drew her blade.

Seven flashes went forward and cut him up.

* * *

 **Bail Out.**

* * *

Tsukiko Squad - 1 Point.

* * *

Tsukiko Squad - 6 Points.

Kotowari Squad - 3 Points.

Tamakoma-2 - 3 Points.

* * *

The match was over.

The last person standing was Kanzaki of the quickly formed Tsukiko Squad.

It was obvious that the quickly made Tsukiko Squad were the winners.

And yet no one seemed to really care.

After all, this was unofficial.

* * *

"Wah~ Wah~ I'm so glad that Kanzaki-san was here to play with us~ Those points came in handy~"

"Apparently so since you could not even get _one point_."

"Are those two...always like that?"

"Just stay away from her and you'll be fine."

"Okay!"

On one side of the room was a group of Border agents wearing blue uniforms. Amatori Chika, Hyuse, and Kuga Yūma stood near their captain, Mikumo Osamu. Their Operator, Shiori Usami, sat near them as she watched things go on.

On another side of the room was a group wearing all completely different uniforms. The designated captain, Tsukiko Yuki, simply let out a sigh as he watched Kanzaki Suuku inch towards her Trigger while Inukai Sumiharu happily poked at her cheek with a smile. Murakami Kou and Kimura Kawaguchi simply watched on as if this did not concern them.

In the middle of the room was the last group who wore the same gray uniforms. While Misaki Suzumebachi tried to mess around with Hyuse and hug Amatori, Toby Awdry was talking animatedly with Kuga with Kotowari Takeshi doing the same, with less enthusiasm, with Mikumo. Taiyōko Hoshi watched everyone with a smile on her face. Their Operator, Takaoto Mei, only nodded her head towards Kanzaki.

Then there were the ones sprawled around. They were the other members of the Tamakoma Branch.

"So," started Yuki, "do you guys understand what we were kind enough to teach you all?"

"Kanzaki-san is a monster?"

"Side Effects suck to go against?"

"Don't let Inukai join us ever again?"

"The author accidentally made you too good?"

Yuki could only sigh as the ridiculous things he was hearing.

It was hard to miss the teasing in all their voices.

The fact they were joking around proved that there really was not hard feeling after the match. Although Yuki was more concerned about his former team in that regard.

"Do you guys want some commentary to make it seem more official?"

The group looked over towards the door to see Yuri walk in with a smile on her face.

In an instant, Kizaki straightened out a bit and started fixing up Amatori.

Off to the side Yuki could be seen covering his mouth while his shoulders shook a bit.

"Sorry, Miss Yuri, everyone, but I really need to go right now!"

Toby quickly made his way to the door while holding up his phone. Following his lead was Kuga, who gave a bow with the brunet.

"Shun has been blowing up my phone the whole time and Kōchō sent a good amount herself. Haru, you got them too, right? Can someone record the commentary, or something!? Thanks! Bye!"

"Geh! Yeah! Sorry, sorry! We really have to go!"

Inukai followed the two leaving.

That left three less people less people in the room.

The rest of Kotowari Squad could be seen either turning away or face palming at their Attacker. It was a bit embarrassing for him to do such a thing when someone was bei so polite and helpful to them all.

Before any of them could apologize for the brunet, a low buzzing sound could be heard.

Suzume quickly grabbed her phone and looked to see that not one, but two people were calling her.

"Its better that you head over to the base as well, Suzume~"

This time it was Jin who gave right away for someone to leave. His face showed that he knew exactly what was going to happen in the different futures involving Suzume right now.

Suzume looked uncertain about if she should stay or follow Jin's advice.

After a few seconds of thinking it over, she grabbed Amatori and started walking out. She gave a quick bow as well.

"I'm honestly sorry. I'm taking Chika-chan because there is honestly no way I can deal with those two alone right now. I'll make it up to you later, Yuri-san."

"It's fine. We'll just save a recording for you two as well."

Suzume tried to laugh at the joke but found that she was too embarrassed to do so. She honestly felt bad about what she was doing, but when _Jin_ said she had to go, there was no choice.

Yuri turned back to the remaining people with a smile on her face.

"Would anyone else like to leave? It's fine if you want too."

She looked around at the others in the room and noticed that Yuki and Takeshi seemed to be fidgeting a bit. Mikumo was just trying not to look in her direction.

Yuki was the first to speak up, while also getting up.

"I...have to deal with my sister. Apparently she is causing trouble for Akasora-sensei again."

This was followed by both Takeshi and Mikumo standing up.

"We have also been getting messages. Most of them complaints. I would like to stay, but I think I need to appease these people before things get worse."

"I should go too. I've been getting similar messages, so..."

"It's fine, it's fine."

Takeshi and Mikumo quickly made their way to the door. It was plain it see that they wanted to get out of the building quickly so they did not have to handle the same embarrassment as the others.

Once the others heard the door open up, they heard Takeshi's voice once again.

"Ah. Hoshi, your pickup is here! He brought Miura-senpai with him!"

Hearing her name being said, Hoshi jumped a bit. She cautiously looked around the room to see if they were fine with it.

They all gave a thumbs up.

Yuri motioned for the young girl to take Hyuse with her.

At this point she was a bit curious as to how many people could leave before she could say anything else. It was sort of like a game to her now.

Mei could see that and decided to follow along with it.

"A-ah... Hyuse-san, would you like to come with us?"

"Why would I-"

Seeing something terrifying standing right behind the girl, Hyuse looked away and stood up. He was not sure if he was seeing a real monster or if he imagination was messing with him, but there was a scary older woman there.

He said nothing and just started walking out if the room.

"Ah! P-please wait a moment!"

Kanzaki, Murakami, and Konami visable shivered when they saw the same scary woman who had been standing behind Hoshi a moment ago. In her place was a calmly smiling Mei, looking as if she had just accomplished something great.

Being a bit overwhelmed by that scary woman, Kanzaki quickly stood up and bowed.

"I believe that going back to my new squad would do some good. I can now assist them better knowing what we could possibly face now. I thank you all for your time."

"No need to be so formal, Kanzaki-san~"

Hearing the teasing voice from the overwhelming woman, Kanzaki rushed to leave.

Mei and Yuri both moved over to look at Murakami, who seemed a bit uncomfortable with the two staring at him.

He already knew what Mei was capable of, meaning that having both woman looking ready to tease him made him want to escape by jumping from the nearest window.

He tried to look at the other members of Tamakoma for assistance, but that did not seem likely. Kizaki seemed to just be looking at the two woman - mostly Yuri - while Jin and Shiori just watched in amusement. Karasuma had disappeared and Konami was trying to sneak out.

"I... I will also take my leave..."

"And there goes the last one."

Yuri and Mei smiled at each other as Murakami left the room and out the door of the building.

* * *

Toby allowed himself to be hit repeatedly by light punches. It was allowed since he saw just how much the younger boy had wanted to play with him.

It was rather endearing to him.

"So did you have fun going against Tamakoma?"

It was easy to tell the girl had something else on her kind when she asked that.

Kuga and Inukai were there as well, but they seemed like they just wanted to watch for now. He wished that was not true since he wanted Midorikawa to stop hitting him.

"Yes, Kōchō, it was very fun. I'm sorry that I did not tell you I was going to be at Tamakoma."

The sarcasm came from his mouth as if it was the truth. This was actually a rare time when he was actually using sarcasm.

"Good. Now then..."

Kōchō smiled as she turned to Inukai and Kuga.

"Can you two answer something for me?"

Toby, already knowing where this was going, let out a sigh as he lightly pushed Midorikawa away.

"When he was fighting, did Awdry look like a beautiful beast dancing in the light? Or did he not?"

Letting out another sigh, Toby looked towards the two, hoping they would be on his side for this.

Oh how wrong he was for thinking that.

Inukai was the first to speak up, a sly smile appearing on his face.

"Oh, most certainly. He looked like the most beautiful of beasts. I was in such awe that I ended up losing my team a point because of it."

Seeing where this was going, Kuga gave a follow up. He gave more of a duck face than another else.

"Humu~ Humu~ Sounds about right. Toby is the most beautiful beast I've seen."

"(You can all screw off.)"

Toby smiled at the teasing, already knowing that there was no malice to their words.

It was nice to just mess around like this. It was most certainly better than dealing with anything his family would put him through. Is felt more like home to him than anywhere else.

* * *

Kotowari Takeshi was by far an odd person. He wasn't odd in the sense that he was loud, demented, or even just crazy. He was odd because he did things a lot differently than most would consider normal.

Takeshi is a B-Rank Shooter who uses his Triggers in a very different way than other Shooters. His views on many things consisted of him not caring too much and he was very antisocial. He looked like the type to be a genius, but in truth he got average to below average grades. He also had a tendency to wear clothes that were a size or two larger than what fit him.

Besides that, he is the captain of the current Kotowari Squad. After the squad's former captain had disbanded the squad it was Takeshi would had been chosen to be captain. Although that was just for formalities.

That was fine with him.

"So you've started using Viper?"

"Correct. I was actually meaning to ask for your assistance with that."

"Hold up! I can help with that! We can just go a few rounds! That way you can get a better feel on how to use it!"

"Don't you think it would be better for him to learn how to really use it first? It would make more of a challenge, wouldn't it?"

Takeshi lifted his scarf a bit, just so that it covered his mouth. His gaze seemed a bit out of focus and Mikumo noticed this.

Mikumo was going to ask if something was wrong but stopped when he saw the edges of Takeshi's cheeks raise a little bit. Unless someone was looking for it, or if they were looking directly at him, they would have missed it altogether.

It was not too hard to figure out that Takeshi was smiling under his scarf. If only a little bit.

"Are you enjoying yourself?"

Takeshi jumped a bit when asked the question.

He looked over to Mikumo, ignoring the rambling Koarai and the sighing Okudera. Asano was just watching off to the side, so she did not seem to notice them talking.

"Yes... I may he saying too much that you really don't care about but... This is nice in a different way than when I'm with my team."

Takeshi felt it was too presumptuous to think that the female Shooter and two Attackers were his friends, but he figured this was what it was like to be around others and talk casually. It was definitely different than speaking to his team in a way that he would never know if he did not speak to them in the first place.

He continued to smile under his scarf so that the others could not see it. He knew that Mikumo noticed his smiling but said nothing about it.

For his part, Mikumo could not help but think that Takeshi resembled a child who had just woken up from a wonderful dream.

He smiled along his with friend.

* * *

Taiyōko Hoshi truly was an easy girl to handle. She was kind to everyone and always tried her hardest at anything she did. She was the type of person who could only be hated out of petty jealousy for her looks and charm. What's more was that she could fight and win battles against some strong opponents.

While some girls were confident and proud, Hoshi was meek and mild. While some girls would flaunted all they had, Hoshi wore modest dresses with the worst being a skirt. While some girls had to work on their appearance at times, Hoshi seemed to have natural beauty that most definitely made her look like a princess.

"Miura-senpai, thank you for your assistance before."

"Eh? Eh? I didn't really do anything. I was just...there."

"No, no, no! I believe you had the biggest role in that whole thing! I sincerely thank you for your help!"

Wakamura, who was sitting next to his new girlfriend, looked from Hoshi, to Miura, back to Hoshi. He was not too sure what she was thanking him for, but felt like it was unimportant.

"By the way, how is Misaki? Did Yuki-san-"

"Why am I here?"

The two from Katori Squad and the one from Kotowari Squad looked over at Hyuse, who had just been sitting by while they spoke.

Feeling bad for having been faced to make him tag along, Hoshi gave her best bow.

"I am really sorry, Hyuse-san. I know that you were forced to join us. If you would like you can leave. I am sure you have far better things to do than be with people you do not care about."

Wakamura narrowed his eyes towards Hyuse. Seeing Hoshi feel this bad about this was not something he liked seeing.

For whatever the reason, Hyuse looked away from Hoshi.

"I was just asking is all..."

From his spot, Miura gave a weak hum as he watched this all go on.

 _Taiyōko-chan is too innocent to say no too. Does she use that to her advantage?_

"There, there."

The real hero of this story - Miura - patted Hoshi's head as if he was petting a small animals he knew he was getting looks from the other two but did not care since Hoshi seemed like she was a bit happier.

Taiyōko Hoshi was definetly an easy girl to handle.

* * *

Misaki Suzumebachi was a 100% shipper and fujoushi. She would use anyone and anything to get what she wanted when it came to things like material for her next doujinshi or story. She was rather well known for these kinds of things and even made a small profit by selling the doujinshi she made.

She stood as the only S-Rank person in the Ship Squas for her ability to make any sort of situation happen. She could always get the best photo shot. She could always find the best times to record. She could always make the best doujinshi that made both males and females of Mikado City check online stores to see if her doujinshi were up.

So then why, some would wonder, was she hiding behind the small frame of Amatori Chika?

"Stop hiding behind her or else your punishment will be far worse."

"Punishment for what!? I've honestly fine nothing wrong!"

"Come on, Suzu-chan, just deal with your punishment with dignity~"

"Don't speak to me like that! And why the hell are you two honestly teaming up against me!? Chika-chan, please help me!"

Poor, small Amatori was not sure what to do at this moment.

The girl behind her continued to move her around so she would be a human shield against the two A-Rank Snipers in front of her.

She did wonder why Suzume bothered to come by if she knew something like this would happen.

"U-um..."

"See, Suzu-chan? This is why you don't get others involved."

"I don't even know what _I_ am honestly getting myself into here! I don't care how horny you two are, you can't just use a woman like this!"

"Wha-!? Where did that come from!?"

"Please never say anything like that again. The thought alone makes me want to... Anyways... Let's get it this then. You still need all the hell you can get."

"Oh ho~ Is that so?"

This was probably the quickest personality change Amatori had ever seen. One moment she was hiding her fellow Sniper behind her and the next she was standing right behind the same person.

She could see Satori take a quick step back, a small grin in place.

She looked forward to see Suzume, who just had her shoulders to her head while hiding behind her, standing there with an arm on her hip and an arm hanging at her side.

"You honestly want to get hurt, don't you, Narasaka-san~?"

* * *

She is bother terrifying and majestic all at once.

Any limitations she made for herself were most likely necessary.

She isthe Ultimate Operator and A-Rank Border combatant with a powerful Trigger after all. She had power, speed and the aura of a strong person. Even when in her real body she is able to rival - and even overpower at times - someone like the muscleman Kizaki Reiji from the Tamakoma Branch.

She was motherly to her squad.

She had beauty that could outclass any model.

She was kind to all.

She was a kind, beautiful, and almost motherly person.

Takaoto Mei is all of these things.

And there was no denying that she _would_ smack her team for any trouble she knew they would cause throughout the rest of the day.

Knowing exactly how much trouble that was was easy for her to figure out.

So she sighed.

"At least the week is almost over."


End file.
